Impact

Just a pre-warning, this post is more than likely not going to be very humorous unfortunately. I have been sitting up awake again on another Thursday after chemo and thinking. It started with all I have to do at work tomorrow, so I originally got up to work. Then I started thinking about my grandfather who passed away last year, so if you are not in a position to hear about a difficult topic...you might want to skip this one or read later. Sorry but getting this out will help me go back to sleep i think....
Thinking about death this evening...not my own so don't worry. Almost one year ago I lost my grandfather. He was a wonderful man that anyone would be happy to have known. He was funny,possessed great strength and knowledge, and very compassionate to others. Right before he passed all of his 6 children, almost all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and family friends gathered around him. We, for almost 8 hours, sat and told story after story of the "good old days". We cried, laughed, and remembered. Some we all knew and some were heard for the first time. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. I saw impacts on others that I am sure he never knew he made but the beauty of that day, his last day, was that he was there listening to each and everyone of those stories. He left this world a few hours after we left for the evening quietly with his wife of almost 50 years. He left with his own memories of the years that he was here but with the knowledge of the impact he had made on each of us. If only we could all be so lucky.
So I sit here on another sleepless night thinking....We are approaching mother's day now with father's day around the corner. I am fairly certain that the perfect gift is not diamonds or a round of golf. Those things are fine but if you are so lucky to have a mother, father, or wife or husband give them the gift of memories too. Give them the gift that will never go away and the knowledge that they have impacted you in some way. We are who we are right now at this moment because of lots of people that have come in and out of our lives. You never know.... this knowledge may change theirs forever too.
Just a little something to think about from a girl who is still awake at 2am......