The next morning, the hospital called. A complication. I rushed there, fearing the worst. But when I walked into his room, he smiled and said, “Guess I’m sticking around a bit longer.”

Grandpa recovered, but something shifted. In him. In me. We both stopped taking time for granted. Years later, I still take my kids to that lake—not just to fish, but to be present.

Because the quiet moments, the simple ones—those are the ones that matter most.