A Pause to Appreciate Life

So, a few things have happened recently that causes me to pause a bit and appreciate the great life I have, the blessings of health, family and my relationship with my Father in Heaven.

1) We were driving down the road last Friday when we came upon a home with a firetruck and ambulance in front of it. When we were driving by I saw a parent herding a bunch of kids into the house. Being the gawker that I am, I had to round the block and go by again to see if I could figure out what happened. As I came around again, coming up the road, were 7 police cars. Yes I said seven-- we counted. Wondering if there had been a horrible crime, I rounded the block again. By this time, the cops were taping the place off with that bright yellow, "do not cross" tape. And the ambulance was still there-- which told me that it was more than an injury-- probably a death. This made me think, especially after seeing all the kids-- ah crap-- they saw someone get killed and are having to deal with that at such a young age. The girl's and I talked about it on the way home and I told them that if I read something on the news about it, I would let them know. It turns out that a 2 year old boy was ran over as his father was backing up to hook onto a trailer and that his 11 year old son watched the whole thing, but was unable to get the father's attention until it was too late.

My heart aches for this family-- they are LDS and have a good support group, but a great support group doesn't fill that void.

2) Ry and I were coming home from the store on Saturday. As we got near our home, we looked to the south and there was the start of a fire-- black smoke that I thought, because of the location and the BLACKness of it, it must be a house fire. So, as before mentioned, I am a gawker, I round the corner and found the cause of the black smoke. A house fire. A neighbor was on the phone in front of the house calling 911 and two other neighbors were running into the back of the house and brought out a dog. Then they proceeded in kicking in the front door to get, what I later found out was two more dogs. Ry and I parked and watched, then the fire trucks showed up. We got out and watched with the rest of the street. It was quite emotional for me to think how I would feel to come home to find my house burned down. As it turns out, the house is not a complete loss-- structurally yes, because of all the smoke/water damage, but not all of the belongings-- I think of the pictures, keepsakes, etc.

Ry and I had a good talk about THINGS-- their lives were safe, but many THINGS were destroyed. Life is not all about THINGS. It was a very sobering thing to see.
(FUNNY thing happened tho-- the two neighbors that went into the house saw the 2 yap dogs, but could not get them out-- they said they kept running under beds and hiding. One kept trying to bite . So-- one of the firemen got the 1st one out and came over and tossed it at us, a neighbor had brought over a crate to put it in. Then he came out of the house with the other-- he had it by the scruff as it was trying to bite him-- so he slammed it [somewhat gently-- but not really] into the grass several times and then threw it into the crate. I found it amusing that he would do that-- he wasn't trying to hurt it-- just get it to stop biting him and let go of his jacket.) At least their pets were safe from the fire.

3) other tragedies have reminded me lately that our earthly life is fragile and we have a higher purpose. Dieing is not the end-- but only the beginning of a much greater life. But we are selfish, mortal beings that can only see life as it is now, on earth. Next-- things are things and have no place in the eternal skeam of life, except to teach us to be unselfish and loving, and serve our fellow man.

Hope this post was long enough for ya. I have more to say, but I won't bore you with my view of others experiences.