Playground memories

I spent some quality time with my daughter and my niece today. Nothing major - just lunch at McDonald's and letting them play in their playground. These two are more like sisters than cousins. They were both students at my parents' daycare since they were born. They were born three months apart and they've been almost inseparable.

After the events of this week, I was almost overwhelmed with emotion sitting there just watching them play. I tried to imagine what life would be like without my little girl. The thought was too much for me. So I just sat there and took in these precious moments. Because anyone of us could be gone in a blink of an eye. Our family is still traumatized by the death of Adonijah, but watching the news tonight, I heard about a girl 21 years old who was killed in a car accident down the road from us. In the newspaper this morning there was a soldier on Ft. Hood that was killed by his wife. And so forth and so forth. We really could be called at anytime. So how should we act? At first I wanted to take my daughter home and make sure she wouldn't get hurt. I wanted to protect her. On Wednesday, every second she was out of my sight, I was calling her name.

But then I came to realize that we can't be with them 24/7. There is no full proof way for us to protect them. And the ultimate reality is that we will all die some day. Most will die old. Some will die in middle age. And unfortunately, some will die at a young age. God has determined the amount of time we spend on this earth. I then came to the realization that the best thing we can do is to treasure all the moments we are given. The things we take for granted, shouldn't be anymore. We never know when our time will be up.