Life is short. Lick the spoon.

I know everyone is probably sick of hearing me say how life is short and you should live with no regrets. You never know what could happen at any given moment. My parents are living proof.

Try retiring and then your wife, without any warning, has a brain bleed and her life flashes before your eyes. Then, miraculously, she is saved, comes out almost unscathed and retires as result. You build your dream vacation home in April of that year and then in December of that same year you find out that your cancer has come back and this time it has spread to the bone and chemo is your last and only hope.

By the grace of God, my parents are both finally on the road to good health and happiness! While I have had frustrating (stress-induced) health issues for the last two months that are still, unfortunately, lingering I remain immensely thankful.

While I am about to make a monumental change in my life (and I'd lie if I said I wasn't anxious) I am beyond excited and hopeful. I have dreamed of this - of him, of this house, of this town, of this life - and it is actually about to come true.

Some will be shocked but that's only because they assumed they knew me when they really don't know me at all. If you really knew me, you'd know that this has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old, that this is the only place where I have ever been able to instantly find true peace, that I have been struggling for the last (at least) eight years in wanting to start over, that I am completely burned out with my career choice and want nothing to do with that line of work any longer, that I haven't been contently happy since I lost my source of unconditional love in April 2013, and that my faith is the only thing that powers me through my daily battles.

It isn't often that I am at a loss for words. But in this moment of pure gratefulness, Jason Gray lyrics are the best way for me to express how I feel for HIM and all that he has done, and continues to do, for me.

Hold on

Is this really the life I'm living?

'Cause I don't feel like I deserve it

Every day that I wake, every breath that I take you’ve given

So right here, right now

While the sun is shining down

I wanna live like there's no tomorrow

Love like I'm on borrowed time

It's good to be alive, yeah

I won’t take it for granted

I won’t waste another second

All I want is to give you

A life well lived, to say “thank you”

- Jason Gray

Life is short.

Lick the spoon.

You may never have that opportunity again.