What truly is important

I was recently reading a friend's Facebook note about what he would be willing to give up a year of his life for and it made me think.  A year of my life, or even something far less drastic - for what and for whom would I be willing to make real sacrifices?  And then it hit me - all of us DO give up weeks, months, even years of our lives, for those people, causes, etc., that are important to us.

No, the odds are that I'll never get the opportunity to die one year earlier in exchange for something that's important to me, but that doesn't mean I can't sacrifice for those things.  When one spends time listening, perhaps for the 40th time, to the same stories a favorite uncle tells ... and smiles and laughs on cue, one is giving up time from one's life.  When one adopts an animal and spends the next 10-20 years caring for it, feeding it and loving it, one is giving up huge chunks of time from one's life.  When we do volunteer work, spend hours on the phone with a brokenhearted friend - all of these are gifts of our time - gifts of time from our lives.

So I just want to say to all of the people for whom I make time in my crazy life - would I give up a week, a month, maybe a year of my life for you?  Yes.  And it's pretty obvious that you give up time from your life for me.  Thank you.