Tonight we said goodbye to our nephew and his wife as the two of them are moving back east to start a new job. My nephew\u2019s been living out here in Utah since 2012 when he first moved out to attend college and because his parents lived back East my husband and I became his parents away from his parents for what\u2019s now been eight years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he first came to college and was single he would come over and tell us about girls he was dating and seek our advice about things. He\u2019d come over to stay with us on the weekends and he and my husband would work on projects in the garage and he and I would spend time talking about his interest in entrepreneurship and batting around his ideas. We spent so much time with him talking about life, talking about love, playing games, watching movies, eating meals together. He was with us when we renovated and moved into my REES Capital office, he was there to help the night of our company launch and open house, he was there as we built our new home and he helped us move into it \u2013 in fact he ate our first dinner in our new home with us. He has been with us for holidays and he has been there whenever we needed help with something. I remember the night he came up to tell me about this new girl he\u2019d been dating and I knew the instant he talked about her and I watched his face light up that this girl would be the one he\u2019d marry. He\u2019d bring his sweetheart over to spend time with my husband and I during their courtship and we were there the day they married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the last eight years he\u2019s become our other son and we\u2019ve become his other parents\u2026and we got used to thinking he\u2019d always be around\u2026.which made having to say goodbye to he and his wife today heart wrenching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we stood on the porch waving as he and his wife drove away all I could think of is how much family truly is everything… Back in the house my husband shared that he\u2019d been thinking that same thought about family being everything\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s so easy to get distracted and caught up in things that don\u2019t truly matter, and its so easy to take the time we have with our families for granted thinking there will always be more time available to us\u2026I\u2019ve been guilty of that more times than I care to remember \u2026 But the older I get the more I\u2019ve come to see that time isn\u2019t always going to be available and when that time is gone we will be left wishing like crazy that we\u2019d taken full advantage of every moment we\u2019d had while we had it\u2026that we\u2019d always been fully present for the people we love\u2026because times together are the most precious thing we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve loved every moment we’ve had with our nephew these last eight years, and his wife these last two. My only regret is not spending more time together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is life’s great lesson…we will never regret the time we spent together with our families, we will only regret that we didn’t spend more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n