My son is at the end of his fifth grade year in school, which means he’s graduating from elementary school now and moving on to the middle school next year. 

All fifth graders are allowed to submit to the school a graduation speech they’ve written…two of which will be selected to be read by their authors to the entire elementary school during the closing ceremony.

When reading over the speech that Finn (our fifth grade guy) wrote to submit, Thomas and I were a little bit… floored.
We both (happily) thought he did a pretty great job getting his thoughts on paper in a fun and organized fashion, but the thing that really left us a bit speechless is the quote that he found, on his own, and decided to include. 

This…

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight.  Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward.  Your life will never be the same again.”  – Og Mandino

Ok so truthfully, we did have him exchange this quote in the speech for one very similar which left out the “dead by midnight” aspect as we felt it might hit a little too close to home this particular year.  (Our community suffered the loss of a beautiful, sweet little girl in the elementary school just over a month ago which has left everyone in a state of devastation.)

But the fact that Finn wanted to include this sentiment as some advice for the rest of the elementary students he would be leaving behind next year, had Thomas and I looking at each other from across the room, both silently thanking God that He led us to not completely screw up all aspects of raising this boy.

‘Cause that quote… is everything.

I mean, really think about it.
If we were to be given some sort of behind the scenes info on a person in our life, informing us that they would no longer be here on this Earth with us tomorrow morning, I think it would change our attitudes towards them COMPLETELY, and make us want to take great care with how we treat them for the next few hours.

Can you imagine how things would change?

Now imagine if we treated everyone with that level of care…all of the time.

It would revolutionize everything.

Us…them…the people around us.  It would change lives in such a profound way and, I think, flood all of us with so much more joy then we’d know what to do with.

It would be crazy.  And it would be amazing.

Interestingly enough, the other quote that Finn decided to swap this one out for feels like it should actually be attached to the end of the Mandino quote.

This…

“Be kind.  For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”-  Ian Maclaren

See what I mean?

If only we could keep these two quotes in our brains…and to find a way to help them outshine all of the junk in this life that wants to block them out and make us forget.

I want to start remembering them.
I want them written on my heart.

And the fact that my little bubba saw the wisdom in the quote… and wants to read it to his fellow classmates so they can see it too?

I don’t know.
Maybe someone should keep a close watch on me ’cause there’s a chance that my heart could burst at any moment right here in my chest from the intense swelling.

Ok, I’ll stop preening like a peacock now and just mention one more thing a bit off topic, but definitely related.

This cake was made for Thomas’s brother, Michael, my brother-in-law who I’ve known for about 20 years now, to help celebrate his 40th birthday.

And these quotes I’ve just mentioned?
Michael happens to be reeeaaallly good at remembering them.

Which makes me one incredibly lucky sister-in-law.

So happy birthday to Mikey, whom I’m ridiculously proud and honored to have had as my second brother for the past 20 years!

(There I go preening again.  How do you even stand me? ;) Xx

 Micheal biting into a very "sweet" wing.