reality check. 6.

after the day of both burial and birth, things wrapped up pretty quickly. i was so thankful for the opportunity to split my days between the joy of spending time with my two favorite kids and the challenge of helping my friend sort through some of her mother's belongings. i loved being able to spend time on the beach, visiting the california academy of sciences, and just playing around the house with my niece and nephew. i also enjoyed being able to help my friend go through shoes, jewelry, clothes, random bags of crap... so glad that i could be there to help and support my friend. the reality is that when someone is not prepared for death, there is a LOT OF STUFF to deal with. we all have stuff. stuff in drawers, stuff in piles, stuff in closets. and i can say that for myself, i have a lot of stuff that is not exactly in its proper place. and if something happened to me, someone would have to come in and go through my piles of stuff. it's definitely a reality check to keep my things in order and organized. (not that it has translated into actually doing this)

as i wrap up this series of reality checks, i think the biggest reality check that i have gotten is that life is precious and short. we don't know what will happen in the next moment. we're not guaranteed tomorrow. it is so important to enjoy life - live life - and value the time that we are given here.