“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Those are the wise words from Ferris Bueller. Now Ferris might be a fictional character, but his words still carry a lot of weight. As parents of young children we all hear the cliché that kids grow up so fast and that we need to cherish every moment. Even though we know this to be true we still brush that piece of advice off and continue on with our daily routine.
Life is filled with conference calls, playdates, errands, and chores that seem to pile up each week. As we feel a sense of accomplishment when we mark things off the checklist we are losing time with our family. There are times where we need to slow down and hang out with our loved ones. It is a priority that sometimes gets put on the back-burner. I am not saying that we need to quit our jobs, but we need to carve out some quality time with the family.
For me it took a trip to the hospital to realize this. Back in April I started to feel some stomach pain. I shrugged it off as indigestion. After a few days of persistent pain my wife urged me to go to the doctor. The next morning I went to my primary care physician, who immediately ordered me a CT scan. After getting that scan I was rushed off to see a specialist. Now mind you this was all in a day. When I got to the specialist’s office I was told that he was going to operate me in a few hours.
All of this started to sink in. I started to get nervous on how fast everything was moving. I was told that I had an appendicitis. My wife and daughters met me at the hospital. I gave them all a kiss and was whisked off to get my appendix removed. The surgeon told my wife and me that it would be a two hour operation. My surgery started at 4:30 pm. Five hours later I woke up. While waking up in the hospital room I was greeted by my wife and daughters. Even though I was a bit groggy I could see the look of panic in my wife’s eyes.
It was late and the kids had school the next day. I kissed my wife and daughters goodbye and they went home.
The next day the surgeon explained to me what happened. He told me that my appendix burst and that it stuck to parts of my intestine. He told me that it was a very unique case and that was why the surgery took longer than normal. Then he mentioned cancer. Not that he didn’t have my complete attention before, but now I made sure I was following everything he was saying. He said they were going to run blood work tests and make sure there wasn’t any cancer around my intestine. He went on to tell me that he had to take out some of my intestine due to the fact my appendix did burst.
After he left the room I started to cry. I immediately thought of my wife and kids. Everything else didn’t matter. They are my world. I started to think about the past few months of how I should have spent more time with my family. Sometimes after dinner I would go upstairs into my office and work. My wife would be helping the kids shower and putting them to bed while I was finishing an assignment. I could have been reading to my kids a bedtime story or better yet have my daughters read one to me. I felt like an idiot. I wasted time that I could have spent with my family.
Thankfully all the blood work came back negative for cancer. I stayed in the hospital a bit longer just to make sure that my body was healing properly. While I was in the hospital I started thinking of ways to plan some much needed time with my family. I knew that something needed to change. I needed to follow Ferris’ advice of making sure that I stop and look around once in awhile.
When my wife brought me home I was greeted by my daughters. Their hugs seemed to last for a lifetime. My wife took a picture of me and our girls just lounging on the couch. I thought about wanting to spend more time like this with them.
For a few years now my wife and I couldn’t wait to have our own backyard. In our old home we lived in a condo community. We shared a lawn with neighbors. We wanted a place of our own so that our kids be able to play, camp out, have dinner, and just relax. When we moved into our house this past December my wife couldn’t wait to get a grill for the backyard. I wanted to have a fire pit to make s’mores with the kids and talk 
about our day.
After the whole ordeal with my appendix my wife and I agreed that it was time to make our backyard dream a reality. We wanted to have a space where we didn’t have any tablets or smartphones to get in our way. It would be a place where we would be talking to each other face to face. We wanted our own backyard oasis.
So when I found out that we here at Life of Dad were going to be working with Lowe’s for Father’s Day I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my #DadTime project.
Recently I went to my local Lowe’s to pick up all the things my wife and I have been dreaming about for years. I picked up a grill, a fire pit, a picnic table, some citronella candles, and even a misting system to put on the umbrella over the picnic table during the hot summer months. The staff at Lowe’s listened to what I wanted to do and showed me plenty of options to create that backyard paradise.
While my family and I were setting up our backyard I thought of my time in the hospital. I took that nerve-racking experience and learned from it. Our backyard is a place for us to just connect and remove ourselves from the monotony of the everyday routine. I am now getting my #DadTime!
With Father’s Day quickly approaching I strongly suggest you follow your dream. What are you looking forward to do around the house? Is there a certain project that you wanted to do with your family? Make it happen. Lowe’s can help. Whether it is making a fire pit or a garden bed or even your own soccer goals Lowe’s has the tools, supplies, and great variety of items to make your dreams come true.
Lowe’s has great gifts for Father’s Day so you can get dad exactly what he wants. Lowe’s has a wide assortment of grills, smokers and other BBQ accessories that all dads want. Is your father into the latest and greatest tools? Well just in time for dad’s special day Kobalt is launching a new line of cordless power tools with an industry leading 24-volt battery platform delivering superior performance.
I picked up a Garden Treasure fire pit from Lowe’s and we love it. Besides making s’mores the fire pit is a fun way to get your family sitting together and sharing their favorite moments of that day. I am truly grateful that we teamed up with Lowe’s to promote #DadTime. We fathers need that time with our family.
Trust me. Take it from a guy who was sitting in a hospital room a few months back wondering if I spent my time wisely. Don’t be that guy! Spend this Father’s Day with your family. The best gifts are the ones that bring families together. Lowe’s can help you make that happen. Get some much needed #DadTime this Father’s Day and every Sunday. It will be a decision that you won’t regret.
Disclosure: We here at Life of Dad partnered with Lowe’s for this promotion, but my thoughts are my own.