Reality Check Moments

Every now and then something comes along and stops you in your tracks, offering a heavy dose of perspective.  That happened to me this morning when I first became acquainted with the blog, Avery's Bucket List. It's a must-read.

I learned about the blog when I learned that baby Avery had passed away due to Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Her parents had known her life was probably going to be a short one, but they savored every moment and shared those moments with the world via their blog. Not only is it a touching and beautiful collection of memories, but it's also proved to be a major tool for raising awareness of this catastrophic and incurable disease.

I had never heard of it until this morning. Maybe you hadn't either. But now we know. And, thanks to this wonderful little girl and her remarkable parents, hopefully, this increased awareness will make a difference for other children and families.

It also is a wake-up call for those of us (like me) who sometimes get bogged down in our everyday stresses and forget to take a moment to just be grateful that our kids are healthy, and that they are in our arms every night. I'm going to take that moment now. And I'm going to hug my Annapie extra tight tonight.

Photo of Avery from averycan.blogspot.com