My DH's mother passed away this Wednesday. We've known she was sick for a while but none of us, her included, really thought her health would deteriorate so quickly or that she would really be gone so soon. She was only 59.

I've had some time in the past few days to really step back at look at our parents. His mom just passed, my mom (the same age) is confined to a wheelchair due to advanced cancer. Both of them worked all of their lives and won't be able to fully enjoy the fruits of their labor.

These kinds of times always prompt a great deal of self-reflection. What am I doing with my life? Who would come to my funeral? What would people say about my life? Will I work so hard all these years and have nothing to show for it?

I've been getting clobbered over and over this past year with the importance of health. We take so much for granted when we're young, and unfortunately it seems like once good health is gone all you're left with is regrets. DH and I have our own personal Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come in our mothers and if we take anything from their situations I want it to be the importance of taking good care of ourselves.

These last 3 or 4 months have just been a blur of trying to juggle our work, our lives, and caregiving for our parents. I haven't made as much financial progress as I would have liked. We're not going backwards, but we sure aren't going too far forward either.

I feel like I need to grab the reins of my life and start steering again, instead of just holding on for dear life!