What matters most?

I've been thinking lately about what things I would miss saaaaay... if my house was destroyed by fire or flood or hurricane or earthquake. What would you miss?

I'm guessing by the time the entire disaster sunk in, I'd just be so grateful to have my family, that I wouldn't care that all our dvds and cds were ruined. Right? Right! Would I miss all the kid crafts and toys? I do know I'd cry over photos, important documents, journal. Well - I'd probably cry about more than that.... but what would really, really matter if it were lost? What would I really want or need to replace? Makes ya think about what really is important in your life - doesn't it?

So - I've just been thinking about my kids and what they get the most excited about - and that is time... time spent with people they care about.

As we drive to Jimmy's work we always pass the Olive Garden. Hannah notices every time and once she said, "I'd rather eat at the cafeteria than at the Olive Garden." Is it because she cares about the food? No... it's because she cares about our family experience seeing dad in the big city ... well, and she thinks getting soda and a frozen yogurt are pretty cool. You can't go wrong sitting by dad in the church cafeteria eating a 'Poison'berry yogurt.

Abe praying EVERY SINGLE TIME that he is grateful to see Grandma and Grandpa. Why? Because he cares about the people in his life. It means something to him.

In the past few weeks Hannah has wanted her fingernails painted. And every single time I agree, we run out of time. It's because I didn't put it first on the list (not that fingernails can always come first - but ya know!). So today I made time to paint toes and fingers because it's important to Hannah.

Abe wanting to play a game with dad. Does it matter what the game is? Probably not. It's about having attention and time from a parent.

I took Hannah on my errands on Saturday. We parked at the mall and as we were walking in she commented that she liked having just girl time. She asked where we were. To Hannah it didn't matter where we were, it was that we both had matchy purses on and that it was just her and mom.

And Max... what does he care about? (well, besides the necessary bottle, diaper change, occasional bath, and time to snooze). He loves attention and play-time with dad, mom, hannah, and abe. Dad tickles. Hannah sings and goo-goo-gah talks. Abe sings Mighty Max and kisses his head. Mom smiles and snuggles and talks super silly.

So - what matters most? Time spent with the people you love. It's all those little choices in our day that affect what we will remember and what our children will treasure.

I remember laying on my mom's lap with all of us chatting with her filtering my hair and tucking it behind my ear. I remember going to the dump with my dad with a big Maverick mug of pop. He would take us kids to our newest house being built and I remember the smell of wood in a framed house (and all those blasted earwigs). I remember getting some bread dough to mold and play with so I could be just like mom. I remember sitting around the table after dinner just talking with the fam. And there were many nights it took us forever to finally pray as a family because we were kneeling down talking about stuff or laughing about something silly.

So I guess it all goes back to the church ad... "FAMILY, isn't it about time?"