"Enjoy Your Youth and Health."

The last few weeks, especially this past week have been tough for the Kelly household.  Elissa, my wife has been watching her grandmother in hospice slip away.  Her grandmother was a very special person to her, and I could always see this.  Elissa spent a lot of time with her grandma, and I feel as though she was a second mom to her, she was very important to her. Last night at around 2 am, Grandma Jones slipped away and went to heaven, peacefully, on her own terms, the way she seemed to live her life.

Last Saturday, when Elissa's grandmother seemed to be slipping a little more, said something very profound to Elissa, who relayed it to me.  Grandma said, "Enjoy your youth and health."  This really hit me hard, as it is so true.  Here is a woman, 86 years old who has seem lives ups and downs.  She has seem good times and bad times, she was someone who grew up during WW2 and married a soldier.  What I find amazing, and it almost seems across the board, that people in their last few days don't talk about how much money they had, how big their house was, or how much they paid for their car.  When live is close to ending, the real things in life are what is important to them, and what they want to relay to their loved ones.  I have never heard someone say, "Boy I wish I could have made more money and bought that huge house."  It's always almost the opposite.  "Boy I wish I wouldn't have spent so much time working, I wish I could have been to my kids games, etc."

As a young person it's hard to grasp the subject of "enjoying your youth and health."  It's so easy to get into the "american way" of just putting your head down and grinding your way through life so you can say you have more money than your friends, or whatever.  When it really comes down to it, life should be more about enjoying your family and friends.  They are priceless. Don't get me wrong, money is important, but not nearly as important as the intangible things in life.

Elissa says that her grandma loved beautiful things, like sitting by a fireplace at Christmas time, or sitting on the front porch on a warm summer day.  THESE are the real things in life, THESE are the things that are important.  We find it so easy to brush these things aside because we "don't have time."  Well that's the thing, MAKE TIME.  Elissa's grandma did not have an extra hour a day that a normal person doesn't have.  She had the same time as we did.

Grandma Jones knew what was important in life, and really put things in to perspective with me when she said these words to her granddaughter, my wife Elissa.  "ENJOY YOUR YOUTH AND HEALTH."  Words to live by, and never forget.  Rest in peace Grandma Jones, you'll never be forgotten.

L to R. Elissa (my wife) My mother in-law, GRANDMA JONES, Kristen (sister-in-law) and Liz (sister-in-law).

Peace.