Every once in a while, it’s important to just slow down from all the hustle and bustle and think about what is really important. This struck a chord.

I’d like to share excerpts from a story someone sent to me purportedly shared by a very successful gentleman who had risen to the zenith of the corporate ladder…

He said when he was still a manager, he was very active and rarely at home. He was making good money and providing for all his children’s need.

One morning, as he was rushing off as usual, his little son was walking out of the room. He wanted to give the boy a hug before rushing out and the little boy ran away from him and clung to his sister.

The little girl made a statement that shocked him to the bone she said “daddy, junior does not follow strangers. Maybe if you stay around more, he will know you and not think you are a stranger. Then, he will start to let you carry him”.

He said his briefcase fell out of his hand. He called all his people and cancelled his appointment for that day. From that day he was home before seven pm, he made sure he attended all his children’s school program.

He then told of one of his friends who was now a retired multimillionaire but whose children don’t say more than how are you to. They will spend hours with their mother gisting. One day he asked his son why he rarely talked to him and the son told him that he really did not know him because he was not there when he was growing up.

Mensa Otabils once asked fathers to think of what they want their children to say about them twenty years from now and start now to lay the foundation. Twenty years from now, it is the current memories that you will relive so you better create great ones. Be there at the little but important moments of their lives. Children will forget the money you spent on them but will never forget the memories you built with them.

I believe this applies to both moms and dads. Let’s not get so busy and distracted that we lose sight of what is really important.

Have an awesome week.