The privilege of good health- my constant reminder

The privilege of good health- my constant reminder

This past weekend was pretty amazing. It started by watching almost 100 little kids take part in the Kids Youth Series race. If you have never watched a kids race before, it’s probably one of the cutest things you could witness, aside from the massive stampede at the start line, seeing their little red faces come across the finish line is just the best.

There was one little boy, who every time I see him run, I have to fight back tears. His mama was a super close friend of mine and she passed away just before he turned two. I know she is with him every step he takes in everything he does, but it breaks my heart that she can’t be there to scoop him up at the finish line……He has no idea how deep my emotions are when I cheer for him but he’s a super, special boy. For awhile after she passed away, I had tremendous guilt about experiencing milestones and special moments with my kids since she wasn’t able to be there for his. I know she wouldn’t want me to feel like that though, so I have worked hard to instead feel privileged.

Saturday, the morning after this kids cuteness race, my husband John and I got to run in the Souris Lighthouse relay with our two oldest kids, and have our daughter Stella be the team cheerleader. It was our first time doing anything like this with them and it was a memory I will cherish forever. Man it was awesome and I hope we can make many more like it.  It was truly the ultimate privilege to experience that with them and I cry every time I think about it. Ironically it was that special little boys 6th birthday.

I will never ever take my health for granted. What I have learned from losing her is it is such an incredible privilege (I’ll repeat that all day) and I feel an obligation to protect it as best I can. It’s not something that can be put on hold, it’s not something we can look after one day when our kids are grown and it’s not something to play around with. It’s our greatest asset and I think we all should look at our health that way. One of my favourite quotes is “when we have our health, we have a thousand dreams. When we don’t, we have one.”

On Saturday-I got to do that with my kids. I didn’t have to do it, I got to do it. What an honour. What a privilege. I am blessed.