Why Does It Take a Coma to Wake Me Up?

My cousins wife has been in a coma now for three weeks. She's young, beautiful, talented, has such strong faith in the Lord, is an amazing mother and wife...and there she lay in a coma. It has been and emotional roller coaster and has brought me a lot of heartache trying to imagine how hard this must really be for JP. It has also kinda 'wakened' me up and caused me to reevaluate my priorities.
Am I taking time to really spend time with and enjoy my children? When Brant and Jacob were little, I used to, quite often, stop and take 'mental' snapshots of them. For instance, sometimes as I was driving down the road I would reach my hand back to give them a snack that they were hungry for. I have "stored away"in my memory the feeling of those little tiny hands trying to grab every single goldfish out of my hand! When they learned that their tiny hands couldn't hold them all, they stuff them in their mouths to allow enough space to grab every last one. Now that the boys are older, I don't think I stop and appreciate little moments like I did when they were little. My boys are still stinkin cute, but I guess "little" is cuter when the world is so new to them and they are learning and doing funny little things. I do this with Marissa, and I guess it's bc...well, she is still little:) I look out into the backyard to see her smiling in at me. She has her favorite sunglasses on, her Princess dress-up high heel shoes on (she calls them tap shoes:), a big poofy hot pink tutu and some shirt that doesn't necessarily match, but is beautiful and adorned with glitter and rhinestones! Her hot pink purse that she got out of my closet on one arm, pretend cell phone and favorite baby doll that Meema gave her in the other! She looks at me and smiles and then goes back to playing out some imaginative story with her "sisters" or "best friends" that are right beside her, that I just can't seem to see:)
I also need to tell Marty more often how much I love and appreciate him! I am so grateful for him! His love and support. I love him for his compassion and good heart. I love him for his love for me and our children and I love him for his love for the Lord. I appreciate that he honors the priesthood and knows the importance of the gospel.
I am grateful for grandparents who have such strong testimonies in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! For a Grandmother who has a quiet, steadfast, strong testimony of the gospel. I'm grateful for a Nana who, aside from past addiction to Tab (soda, lol) and an occasional slot machine (lol) never veers from what she knows to be true of the Gospel and a Papa who bears his testimony to his kids, grand kids and great-grand kids every chance he gets! For all the memories of Easter at the Beach where our large family spends the week together year after year! I believe in miracles and I know that Amber has thousands of friends, family and even strangers who know of her story, praying for her! The nurses have been referring to her as "Sleeping Beauty":) I can't imagine what she might be experiencing while she is 'sleeping'. The veil is so very thin! I pray for Amber and JP constantly and I know that, if it be the Lords will, that he will perform a miracle for our family. I pray for it.

Some of my friends who know about Amber's story might be interested in keeping up with her via a blog that her mother is keeping updated. Here's the link: amberjoygiles.blogspot.com