What's really important?

I started the day in the freezing sleet with my daughter's black and white daschund, Lucy.  I love the cold in small doses and enjoyed watching the little green birds search through the sleet looking for food. They were so cute jumping around on the frozen ground. While Lucy found the exact spot she needed, I picked up the trash the dog left across the yard in the night and the paintbrushes frozen to the ground that my husband and kids left out after finishing their latest "project".  I found the birdseed and tossed a bunch outside my window so that they could eat it where I could watch them.  My kids were sick today so I did all the chores by myself.  I feed the three cats and the dogs. Sam is a Rottweiller and you already met Lucy. Started the dishwasher, switched a load of laundry.  Just an ordinary day in my life.  Then I got a phone call from Ruby.  "There's just no easy way to say this."  I held my breath.  "Stephannie was in a car wreck today; she didn't make it."  The air was pulled out of me.  I can't really describe what I felt in that moment.  My friend, Jennifer, was just living her life today and now her daughter is gone.  My heart is broken for her.  I am lost for her. When I told my husband and my children and they were stunned.  I felt guilty that I hadn't gotten to know Stephannie better.  The years ran through my mind and I thought of all the times I could have spoken to her, prayed for her, listened to her.  Now it's too late.  Final. No more time.  She is with God now where time can not touch her.  We are still here, living our lives, standing in the sleet and freezing wind waiting for the dog to go.  I can't wrap my mind around it yet.  But I know it has changed me.  Tomorrow we bake and take food to the church.  We pray.  We cry.  We love.  And we live our lives.