This week has been a very difficult one for me. I took on work project that I really shouldn’t have, spent days concerned that I had made a huge mistake on a client’s website, only to find out that the problem was easily solved, and I have had to dig my heels in hard and heavy with my professional writing. This, unfortunately, has left little time for the things that matter most in my life: my husband and my five amazing children.

Of course, on top of all that, there’s the cooking, the cleaning, the house repairs…AAAAAHHHH!!! It’s all enough to make a person go insane. What’s worse is that I haven’t even touched my book in weeks.

Now, before you run away and never return to my site because I sound like a compulsive whiner, let me just say that there really is a point to all of my complaining.

Life is short.

Right now, I am reading Lillian’s List by Bradley Salters.

My mother died at 46.

I am now 31.

My oldest son is now 14.

I have been married to my amazing husband for almost 5 years.

My baby is now 2.

Too short.

The point I am trying to make is that we get so caught up in the day to day hustle, bustle, frustrations, conversations, entertainment, complaining, working, and everything else that fills the hours of our days, that we often forget just how short life is.

After my Mom died, I told myself that I would never, ever forget just how short life can be. But that was more than six years ago. Life continues. Jobs continue, raising children continues, house work and chores continue. Yet, amidst it all, a life didn’t continue. A life that was important, precious and special to me and everyone that it had touched.

So, this reminder is probably more for myself than anyone, but I wanted to share it with you as well….

Life is short.

Too short.

Have fun, make memories, let the dust bunnies lie, learn to say no to commitments that monopolize your time, make someone laugh, be gentle with yourself and others, say a kind word, smile at a stranger, hug, forgive, take a walk, hold hands, dance in the rain and find ways to make each moment of this too short life count.

Make your life count because to someone else, you are that special life, and those moments will be cherished, treasured and missed, long after you’re gone.