For the last year I have plugged away at being the “Paper Lady” by covering community events for our local newspapers day after day. I have written 49 personal columns so far and countless articles covering our little world even though I’ve struggled with my personal health the last few years as have my coworkers. However, we have persevered and brought home once again the coveted Sequoyah through the Oklahoma Press Association proving that our skeleton crew I call the “Fabulous Five” are dedicated to covering our communities and the local people who make a difference in our lives even when our own lives are on the line.
I’ve also rescued so many dogs and cats this year that I’m not even sure I could count them all. Through our Paws N Claws-Eufaula volunteer group that helps find homes for the Eufaula pound pups to all the abandoned and dumped animals in our county that we post to help find forever homes, it is a daily uphill battle to get people to be responsible and spay or neuter their pets so we will stop having so many unwanted litters. This is why I currently have 17 rescue kittens from five different litters living in my home and that’s on top of my family’s eight personal pets and 12-15 semi feral cats I feed outside from a TNR program in my own neighborhood. So to say that sometimes life gets too complicated and overwhelming is an understatement. Sometimes we have to realize that work can wait.
As I look back over this year and realize just how many friends and families I have had to say goodbye to it is disheartening as well. Some had full lives but others were cut short due to violence (like my sweet niece’s) or some unforeseen accident. Though some days you stay so busy you barely have time to think about it, there are other days that it hits you like a ton of bricks and you can barely catch your breath. You start to grieve the time that you poured into your career instead of being present with your loved ones that are no longer here. You grieve the time spent trying to impress your bosses or others over the years, rather than investing that time and energy into the people who actually mattered the most – your family and close friends. You also grieve the future moments that you will never get with them and the past times you wish you could go back and do over.
One thing is for sure, work will always be there. There will always be something else that needs to be done or needs your attention but work can wait. After all, people can exit our lives as quickly as they enter it. Moments can be lost that you will never get back. So cherish every moment you can grasp. Tell them you love them and hold them close while you still can.
Trust me, work can wait, but the moments that matter most will not.
