Taken For Granted

We live in a military town with a local Air Force Base sustaining about half of the town, some of whom are retired. I've never been very familiar with the life of those that serve our country in the military and it's been a good experience so far, even if we do feel a little like outsiders at times. Anyway, in church on Sunday a member of our congregation was talking about how wonderful it was that he got to baptize his son the previous day. He then went on to talk about how nice it was that he was the one that got to do it, not someone else. I know from previous conversations that he's spent some time deployed in Iraq which has probably resulted in missing numerous significant events in his life and the lives of those he cares deeply about. This is something that I take for granted. While I don't get paid tremendously at my job, their are tremendous non-monetary benefits to my employment. I'm home by 4:30 or 5 and have nearly every weekend off. While this hasn't always been the case with grad school and such, I haven't really missed any significant life events of my wife or kids. I think that this kind of struck home when I was thinking about what this guy talked about and then realizing that I was a little bummed out that I had an appointment at church that week at 7:30 pm... prime putting-the-kids-to-bed-time. I rarely miss putting the kids to bed, let alone any other important events in their lives. I usually have breakfast and dinner with Sarah (and Nathan lately too). I'm grateful for those who serve our country and sacrifice so many tangible and intangible things. I'm fortunate to be able to help people while still enjoying so much time with my growing and lovable family. Pretty fortunate indeed!