Priorities: Family & Friends

“Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious. Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. Live every day as if it were going to be your last; for one day you're sure to be right. Don't be fooled by the calendar”.

I believe I’ve always been family and friend oriented. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that growing up I only had my mom, dad and sisters. Unfortunately, I did not grow up with cousins, aunts, grandmas, etc, as they were/are all in Ghana. The thing is that after my mom’s death in 2015 it amped up my desire to be even more family and friend oriented. When you lose someone that is extremely close to you, you realize just how short life really is. Never in a million years did I think that my mom would be gone at 64. I always pictured her growing old and being the cutest old lady ever. I truly saw her reaching 100 years old. Her being gone was not part of the plan and it was then that I really became aware just how quickly anyone I love could be taken.

I use to be so proud to say that I’d rather text vs. talk on the phone. Well, now that I can’t talk to my mom anymore, I crave her phone calls and would do anything to hear her voice again. I realized that right now I can actually speak to my friends and family over the phone, so why am I not doing it? What is my excuse? Why am I not making every opportunity to take a few minutes out of my day to speak to a love one over the phone when I can?! A text is fine, sure, but it will never be as personal as a phone call. After my mom’s death, I decided to make it a priority to set time aside to talk on the phone with friends and family.

I’ve made it a priority to plan more opportunities for us to all be together. Taking it farther than just getting together for birthday parties. Instead intentionally setting time aside to plan random days to spend time together. Even if it means that we have to plan way far in advance. I want us all to remember the smiles, laughs, conversations and even the fights that were not even important. I want to make the type of memories that roll around in my head months, even years after they have occurred.

My mom’s death did that for me. It was once a cliché saying that life is too short. Now it is a daily reminder. A reminder that I want to live each day as my last. I want my family and friends to know just how much I love them and how much they mean to me, right now. I don’t want there to be any guesses about how much I enjoy spending time with them, instead I will show them. Life gets busy, life is busy but I find that you always make time for the things you love … and well, I love my family and friends.