I’ve got so many incredible things to share with all of you from my amazing trip to Palm Springs recently to be with Charles Koch and his wife Liz and so many other incredible friends we love dearly for our six month meeting to discuss the philanthropic giving we all do together via our group Stand Together.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to write a blog about that trip yet because things have been crazy this week with my husband ending up in the hospital.

Tonight we learned that his condition would have been life threatening if it hadn’t been treated as quickly as it was. I knew he was seriously ill the night we went to the Emergency Room because I’d never seen him like that before, but to learn that he truly could have died…well, that news shook me to the very core tonight…

As I looked over at him tonight and realized that if things had gone differently he wouldn’t be here with me… let’s just say the thought of that is more than I can bear… It was a huge reminder of exactly how much I love him.

Life is so very precious, and we cannot ever allow ourselves to take our own lives or the lives of our loved ones for granted because one can be healthy one day and taken in an instant the very next. We just never know… But what I do know is that it shouldn’t take a near death scare for us to wake-up and take notice of how much the people in our lives mean to us… It’s embarrassing to realize how often we let all the “dumb stuff” get in the way of us showing our loved ones how much we appreciate and care about them.

When you stand at the brink of losing someone you love, none of that dumb stuff will matter one bit…what will matter is all the things about your loved one that make them so amazing…and what you’ll be thinking about is how you wish you’d shown them more appreciation each day…

“Never ignore a person that loves you, cares for you, and misses you. Because one day, you might wake up from your sleep and realize that you lost the moon while counting the stars…”  -Anonymous

I’ve learned some valuable lessons this week. I’ve learned to be grateful for every second of every day we get to spend with those we love, and to make the most of each day we are lucky enough to have them still around….I’ve learned to let go of the stupid stuff and appreciate the good in those I love…and I’ve learned that I’ll never let a day go by without making sure my husband knows how grateful I am to have him around.

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )