Birthday Planning

One of the things on my "To Do List" is plan Hannah's 5th birthday party.  Wow, my baby girl is going to be 5....I still cannot believe it.  As all my friends know, I am tearing up just thinking about it.  So besides her constant talk about having an ice skating party (thanks Brian), we have decided to have a pool party at our great friend Kayce's house.  Very simple....swim for a couple o hours, have cake, hand out goodie bags, and party over.  That stress is out of my life.  I even know how I am doing the goodie bags this year.  Something a little different.  I may have to get my friend Morgan to help...she is very creative!  

Here is the soon to be birthday girl....I love you baby girl!

I don't know why I have been thinking about death a lot lately.  It could be the constant reminder when I watch the news, or the sad blogs that I always find myself reading, or just the fact that I am getting older and the people who once helped mold me into the woman I am today are getting older too.  Death has always been a very hard topic for me.  I don't like to think about it.  I don't like to talk about it.  But yet all my life I remember sitting in church and the preacher would say "I cannot wait to die and be with Jesus".  I always would feel bad because I would always disagree.  But wait....I want to get married, and I want to have children, and I want to see them get married, and then have grandchildren.  

And then I came across this poem...it makes me realize that I don't have to think about it or talk about it or embrace it like the preacher says.....I can just make the most of the time that I do have and make the dash on my tombstone(which hopefully is far from the making) count:

The Dash
By Linda Ellis 
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.
 
He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke of the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.
 
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
 
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
 
So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
 
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
 
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
 
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
 
So when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?