This is sort of a depressing topic, but a topic I feel that's important to share.

Pretty recently I had a family scare after my dad had to go under quadruple bypass surgery. It's a fairly common procedure nowadays, but it was a surprise to us that it even had to happen. The doctor told us we were fortunate because if they didn't catch the blockages, he might have had a heart attack within the month.

After a crazy week of surgery and recovery for my dad, he was able to make it home and begin his recovery process. I started to think about how scary the event was and how lucky we were that he was okay. He is one of my biggest role models in life and the thought of potentially losing him was kind of a shock.

I remembered a story he told me a few years ago about his dad, my grandpa, after he passed away. My dad told me that he got to see my grandpa the day before he moved on, and he told me something I don't think many people get to experience. He told me how the two of them sat outside together, sort of knowing that that would be their last time, and my father got the chance to thank him for being his father.

To this day I look back on growing up and thinking about how many sacrifices my parents had to make to give me and my brother the best life possible. I often times feel like I take it for granted. I have friends who have lost parents or who have parents no longer in the picture that I can't imagine how hard it must have been for them. My point in mentioning all this is that kids my age don't always think about what their parents really gave up for them, or never really take the opportunity to thank them or be appreciative of what they do. I'm guilty of it sometimes, that's just part of being human.

I think the greatest lesson my dad taught me just recently through this crazy event, is to always appreciate what you have because you don't necessarily know when it's going to go away.

I always hear kids my age, my friends, peers, etc. say how much their parents annoy them, or how they hate going home to visit, or anything similar. The thing is there will be a day in all of our lives where eventually there will be no one to go home to and visit, and as harsh as that sounds, it is true. I don't want to be in a position where I wish I could tell either my mom or my dad how thankful I am for them because it's too late to tell them to their faces.

Appreciate what you have now, and take time in your life to be a part of your parent's lives because it could be gone in a second. Granted not everyone had the same upbringing, and some people might not have good relationships with their parents. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have our parents, we owe it to them and to the ones who don't to cherish family as long as we can and never take it for granted.

The old saying is family is forever, and that's because it's true ladies and gentlemen. Call your parents, it'll mean more to them than you could ever know.