Joanna Gaines reveals spending MONTHS away from her dad due to lockdown changed her: ‘No longer would I measure my life based on what I achieved’
Joanna Gaines revealed how watching the sunset with her father Jerry Stevens changed her priorities about life.
The 42-year-old HGTV star wrote about the experience in the Magnolia Journal, according to People which shares the publication’s parent company.
She described the way she gave up a chance to watch the sun go down with Jerry before the pandemic – only for the lockdowns to then keep them apart for months.
Dad and daughter: Joanna Gaines revealed in Magnolia Journal how watching the sunset with her father Jerry Stevens changed her priorities about life
Magnolia Journal is an offshoot of the overall Magnolia brand by Joanna and her heartthrob husband Chip – including a network that will debut this year.
Joanna’s parents Jerry and Nan were hosting a dinner party at their home when he asked his daughter to spend 15 minutes looking at the sunset with him.
However her son Crew was an infant at the time and she asked for a rain check so that she could put the baby down at his bedtime.
Joanna married her husband and HGTV co-star Chip in 2003 and they share five children – Drake, 16, Ella, 14, Duke, 12, Emmie, 11, and Crew, two.
Side by side: Magnolia Journal is an offshoot of the overall Magnolia brand by Joanna and her heartthrob husband Chip – including a network that will debut this year
‘It didn’t take me long to regret that moment. My dad is the most understanding person when it comes to my family time,’ she spilled.
‘An invitation to stay and watch the sun disappear with him was a special request. I realized I’d held a meaningful moment hostage in the name of efficiency.’
After months spent apart because of self-isolation Joanna finally found a chance to get back the lost opportunity this past autumn.
She visited Jerry in his backyard, staying physically distant from him as per coronavirus protocols to have their sunset moment.
Dynamic duo: Joanna married her husband and HGTV co-star Chip in 2003 and they share five children – Drake, 16, Ella, 14, Duke, 12, Emmie, 11, and Crew, two
Joanna experienced a ‘turning point’ upon coming to the the realization that ‘The fact that I’d made it back to this place, that I’d been given a chance to reclaim a moment I’d so freely given away, was extraordinary.’
She declared: ‘No longer would I measure my life based on what I achieved in a week, a day, or an hour. Now, it is time spent in moments like the one I shared with my dad that I hope define my lifetime.’
Joanna insisted: ‘Time spent abandoning plans in order to catch a glimpse of something truly beautiful….Time spent taking in the only view that really matters: the one unfolding right in front of me.’