Today I can look out my front window and watch my children play. They are 9 and 5, but I don't remember when they got so old. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was 4-years-old and crying because she just found out that her little brother was a boy? Wasn't it just this morning when he was 1, and so proud to have found my power drill? When did she grow to big to sit on my lap, and when did he lose that innocent baby smile?
Before I know it, she will be getting her first job, going off to college, falling in love, bringing my grand kids over to see me. He, likewise, will soon be driving, chasing his own dreams, finding his own family, and asking for my help to roof his own house.
I can't miss this time. The spaces in between the now and the then. All the little moments that make up our lives. So often, it is those little moments that have the biggest impact. And what if I wasn't around for them? What if their mom wasn't?
The trick lies in making the most of every moment you have, right now.
There are families who know they don't have decades ahead of them to get their fill of moments. There are good moms, there are great dads, there are amazing kids who's lives have been impacted, shortened, who have to embrace the moments they have now. I pray I am never in that situation.
But what if I was? What would I do? How would I handle the time I had? Could I do it on my own?
What if I couldn't go it alone? Could I ask for help?
Could you?
And if we did, who would step up out of the shadows to help? Who would break through the bystander barrier and give of themselves, give of their resources, their compassion, their time, their money?
What if someone asked me to do the same for them?
There's a guy I know, in fact he's quite notorious in Dad Blogging circles, and he is facing this future, one where the moments are numbered. His name is Oren Miller. He has a wife and kids. A house. A job. Friends. Loved ones. A ton of blogging dads around the world. And cancer.
I won't tell his whole story here, as it is better told in his own words and by those closest to him, but his is a story that breaks your heart. He is a man who inspires. This is a chance to rise to the question: what can we do?
Some of the people who Oren has touched have found a way to give back. Send his family on a vacation, put some money aside for the future, help him make the most of the moments they have together. What can you do?
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