For Granted

It is such an odd expression.  Yet, we use it all the time.

I have recently been thinking about past experiences and how so many of them I never really considered a special privilege while in the moment.  I considered them the “norm” or expected.  But now, looking back, they may have been promised then but they aren’t promised for forever.  I took them FOR GRANTED.

Examples:

I helped start a ladies monthly wine club.  We had several successful years of meeting in each other’s homes, having a meal together while sampling 10-12 bottles of wine and this was usually all tied together with a fun/creative theme.  It was so much fun to get together with your girlfriends on a Tuesday night and catch up over wine and snacks.  We did this for nearly three years.  As I look back on those nights, I remember enjoying the excitement of being with friends and enjoying the food/wine/evening but it never occurred to me that it may end one day… FOR GRANTED.

My husband (now, boyfriend then) used to go to Vegas each August for the annual major hacker conference.  I tagged along for three years in a row.  It felt like our norm… oh, the first weekend in August?  We will be in Vegas.  Of course, I enjoyed playing penny slots, drinking free booze while playing said slots, enjoying meals at fancy restaurants and experiencing the sights of Vegas.  But it never occurred to me that one year we may not go to Vegas in August… FOR GRANTED.

When I think about loved ones I took FOR GRANTED, I think of several.  I think of my grandmother, Myma, who came to EVERYTHING.  She was always at my tennis matches, school programs, church events, etc.  She was on time, dressed nicely, and full of encouragement.  It never occurred to me that wouldn’t last for ever.  In my mind, it was a given, a “norm, an expected.  But now, she has been gone from this earth for almost 4 years and I am reminded almost daily how much I took her… FOR GRANTED.

Life changes, situations change, opportunities change… as we all know, the only thing constant in life is change.  With this in mind, I am making more of an effort to not take “norms” FOR GRANTED.  We have no guarantees in life… our health, our finances, our tomorrow, etc.  We have to make sure we do not take anything FOR GRANTED.

What are you taking FOR GRANTED?

learn and love, brooke