Where Did the Time Go?

Our family had a great opportunity to join my aunt Verla and our cousins' families for Thanksgiving this year via a relatively short drive down south.  To say that our short time together was fantastic would be a huge understatement.  Everyone couldn't believe how 7 years had passed so quickly since the last time all of the families were together at one place.  "Where did the time go?"  "Look how big the children are now?"  "This five year old is Isaac?  Wow!"  Sometimes it takes rare opportunities like this to jolt us back to wakefulness, to being present, to appreciating what life and family present us.  I worked hard in those brief two days to really be genuinely present, soak it all up, and hopefully carry with me precious memories of family, all together, enjoying and loving each other.  While I hope not, will it be 7 more years before our next time together comes around again?  And what about all of the family and friends on both sides that we didn't get the chance to see this year, as we live so far from one another?  Doesn't life have a way of taking us away from what matters most in our lives?  Before we even realize, the sand in our hour glass will be gone.  Why not practice discipline to choose to be mindful, awake, aware, and present wherever we are moment to moment, but especially in those briefest of times when we are lucky to be with one another face-to-face?  Why not choose to Sail the Seven C's, those behaviors that take us away from being truly present with life and one another?  Why not make this choice, admittedly sometimes difficult, over and over again until it becomes habit?  We have so precious little time remaining.