Tough Decisions

My friend Josh was speaking at a conference this past Friday. He personally invited me to this conference, but I was unable to attend. Josh just currently did a blog post on a book that he read about choosing to cheat. Josh describes this book as at first it seemed to be "very far fetched." The concept I got from the book review is that in our lives we have only 24 hours in a day. 8 is usually taken up by sleeping. Some people less some people more, but for ease we'll say 8 hours. Now the other 16 are yours to do with it what you want. Most people do 8 at work and 8 with family. But that does not leave travel time to and from work, shopping time, hobbies time,etc... You are in charge of what you fill those other 16 hours with.

If you are married, I feel that you are obligated to share as much of those 8 family/not at work hours to your wife and children if you have them. This is what I was face with this past week. I know that Josh has confidence in me, and I am honored to know and feel that, but at the same time, the death of my father-in-law is a higher priority. When I look back at it, it is a no brainer, but when you are making the decision it is tough.

When It Rains It Pours

I was talking to one my friends the other day about what is going in my life and he said," Wow you are really getting rained on!" My assumption is that he meant I was under attack. My wife's father, Gary Hawksworth, died on Thursday, September 13. He was not only my wife's father, but he was a father to me as well. I have not been in contact with my father for about 5 years now. I digress. We knew it was coming, just not so sudden. Before my son was born, 9 1/2 years ago, the doctors said that he had 3 more years and if he quit smoking they would give him 5. I think we kicked those doctors butt, personally. Gary was able to see 3 more grandchildren born and make a great impact in his community. It's kinda funny how your priorities shift when you know you are on a time table.

Along with the poor health of my father-in-law, my wife is struggling with some health issues. To make matters worse, and yes they can get worse, my wife can't talk about her health problems with her family b/c her father is diagnosed with cancer and is dying before there eyes. Now my wife's emotions are everywhere, and we currently have 8 children that still need a tremendous amount of our time and a father that has days to live.

During that same conversation with that friend I stated that I preferred that the storms would roll in hard, hit hard, then move on. I don't think I could handle the Seattle type of rain where it is not hard, but it is long and drawn out.