I Wish I Had...

The past few weeks that I've been home, I haven't thought about my outside job... my mind's been a little preoccupied with two ones of my own. Even so, it seems it can't escape me for very long. After church we had a couple of errands to run, and a client saw me. I never know how to act when I see a client with all of the confidentiality issues, and we were taught to wait until the person approaches you.

My job is a little different, and most families don't care if others know I come to see them. Still, you never know, so I played dumb until he came up to me, beaming. His wife just had baby on R's due date. He pulled me over to see the new babe, and show off how great of a big sis the girl I see has been. Mom and I exchanged our "war stories". Dad introduces himself to L, and L introduces E and R. We chat and then move on.

Today my boss came over to see R and E, bearing gifts, which E gladly opened. She explained that while she was getting ready to leave our client's house, they received a call stating the grandfather had lost his battle with cancer. We both processed how up and down our job can be.

So life and death. One home is filled with joy. The next, sorrow. It reminded me to thank God for the health of my family and friends, and the joy we are experiencing with a new babe. And it made me cringe to think that could easily be us, receiving that dreaded call about one of our parents. Perhaps it seems a little more fresh, as we know that L's parents are in Ireland, spreading the ashes of L's grandfather.

We complain about driving to TC to see family sometimes. And now I'm thankful that we're close enough to make that drive and see them on a semi-regular basis. I'm glad that we have great parents who love our kiddos to death, and would do anything for us. And hopefully they know how much we appreciate all they've done for us, and hope our kiddos will have the same appreciation for us when they are our age.

I guess this is sort of a dark post on a beautiful sunny day here, and really, it's not meant to be. Maybe it's just more of a reminder to me to love the people I love, before it's too late, and all I have to say is, "I wish I had...."