I am gathering information for a family friend about my father’s life.  She needs a brief biography for her campaign to get a lane named after him for his contributions to the community.

I took Dad’s contributions to the community for granted.  As I was growing up, Dad was Dad.  And sometimes he was a pain in the ass when he stopped me from doing things I wanted to do.

I also took for granted the time I had to ask him questions.  I always thought I had lots of time to ask him, and never made time to do it.  Dad died in 2005, and stopped answering questions.

We take so many things for granted—not only with our parents but with other family members and friends.  We think we have all the time in the world to do things with people and be with them.  And then, one day, they are gone.  And all the things we were planning to do with them and say to them mean nothing.

How easy it is to take raindrops on a window for granted.  But when you closely examine them, you see how special they are in their shapes and the patterns they form.