I recently attended a funeral of the husband of a dear friend. He was a relatively young man, not yet 60. During the touching memorial service, family, friends and business colleagues reminisced about their time with a man gone too soon.
But it was the eulogy of a minister that really hit home. She had only recently met the departed, yet her story was powerful nonetheless. She spoke about how this man professed his love to his wife and his family. She told how this special man renewed his wedding vows to his wife of more than three decades in the presence of his children. The wedding ceremony took place with tears in the eyes of the family knowing that the end was near.
What made this story even more penetrating was that a mere four months prior this man’s health was seemingly fine. Yet, he was gone in a blink of an eye.
The journey of my dear friend and her husband inspired me. I began to think about the value of treasuring the moment with my own family and friends. Many years ago I completely lost perspective regarding being in the moment with my family. And I paid the price. My wife asked me to pack my things and leave our home. Her request was both surprising and yet expected.
Last year was one of the busiest of my entire life. I moved my home, started a new venture and moved into new offices all within the first five months of the year. It was all a blur. Until recently, I was so focused on all of the goings on that I did not remember to fully appreciate the valuable moments. My wife Valerie calls this “loving in the small moments of life.”
Recently I invited one of my daughters to join me for a trip to the store. As we approached my car she held my hand and began to skip. We skipped together for a few steps before she quickly left me in the dust. That was loving in the small moments.
Later that same evening I was invited to play Bid Whist with some of my buddies, one of my favorite past times. I declined so I could have dinner with my family. We had a great time telling stories and laughing together. Again, that was loving in the small moments.
My thoughts and prayers are with my friend and her family in this time of their immense loss. At the same time, I took from this tragedy the invaluable lesson of appreciating life. I will do more loving in the moment, as I could be gone in the blink of an eye. And you could be, too.
Darryl Cobbin is an accomplished, award-winning marketing executive, entrepreneur and author of Before You Wed…Read This!’ He loves his family and his work.