The Important Things in Life

My grandmother almost died yesterday. I woke up at 7:00 am to my phone going off and when I saw that it was my mother calling I instantly knew that it was not good news. No one in my family calls me before 8:00 unless something bad has happened.
Mom told me my grandmother was in a coma and they didn't know how long she would live. They thought she'd had a "catastophic stroke" and were surprised that she even made it through the night. When I got off the phone with my mother my immediate reaction was sadness at the fact that I would probably never get to speak to Mamaw again. Then I thought how much I took our relationship for granted. I didn't visit her the last time I was home because I was too busy, I didn't call her enough just to say hello or just to check on her, I didn't even know she was taking medicine for high blood pressure or that she even had high blood pressure!! I'm in pharmacy school for crying out loud! I should at least know what medications my grandparents are on and make sure they are taking them correctly and that they are ok. What kind of a grandaughter was I? I was most upset that I didn't tell her enough how much I loved her and how happy I was that she was my grandmother. I wasn't ready for her to go. She wasn't supposed to go yet.
So all day I waited for news, waited to see when I should go home. I prayed too. I prayed that God would make her better but only if she could be her old self again and be happy. Then, at five I got a call from mom. Mamaw was fine. Perfectly normal. Infact, she hadn't even had a stroke! (It was something else that I won't explain for the sake of making this extremely long but if you are interested just ask.) Mamaw was sitting up and talking and wondering why everyone was there. She was her old self. Thank God!
So, now I get another chance. I get to be the grandaughter I realized I wasn't. I get to talk to my grandmother again.
Yesterday I realized what is most important in life. People. People that you love and care about. People who love you. I get so busy and wrapped up in my daily life that I forget to make a simple phone call or sit down and write a card. Those things are easily overlooked but they are so important. The sad thing is that you may not realize it until it is too late. It was almost too late for me. Praise God for second chances!