Parents

My Mom called with me some news the other day. One of my friends from high school is 38 weeks pregnant and her father-in-law just died of a heart attack. My heart broke for her family. Here she and her husband are on the brink of one of the happiest days of their lives- the birth of their first child- and her husband's father passes away. I simply cannot imagine how sad they must be feeling right now. I am sure they wanted their baby boy to grow up knowing his grandpa. The entire family has been on my heart and in my prayers.

This sad event got me thinking about Jackson and how much I know that he'll miss his dad on our delivery date. (Let me verify that the delivery date should be in about 6 years or so. Do not get excited.) There have been a lot of happy days in his life since his father passed that have been bittersweet. I know how much he wished his dad could have been at our wedding. I will always believe in my heart that God lets our loved ones look down on us so I know he was there in spirit. I made myself cry thinking about all of this. Sometimes a loss is overwhelming no matter when it happened. I always tell people that Jackson misses his dad so much that I miss him, too.

I always remind myself to not take for granted the fact that my parents are always a phone call away. (I try to remind Jackson of that about Susie, too. He always assures me that she'll live until she's 100. Shortly after that, I'll hear him on the phone with her. Uh huh.) I often think about how awful it would be if one day they didn't pick up anymore. I think we all forget that tomorrow isn't promised for any of us. We should all be so thankful for the time that we get with our loved ones.

But even in sad situations, God is good.