Today is a gift
I know you know. I know everyone keeps telling you that.
Yet it’s true. Heartbreakingly so.
Family members living with cancer, random bullets shot at optimistic college students in Santa Barbara, martial law in Bangkok, a missing 22 year old in Cincinnati, never-planned car accidents, aging parents losing their words and memories, births with unexpected complications…
The assault on living by the dangerous and dying is relentless.
The best we can do is to make cakes for birthday parties, to have friends stop by to grill on holiday weekends, to root for our teams in the playoffs, to stand in the sunshine and feel its warmth, today.
I spent the other day decluttering more than a decade’s worth of stuff bought with real dollars earned through hard work that brought various levels of comfort, pleasure, and distraction. 20 bags destined for trash.
Nothing lasts, no matter how precious.
Today’s a good day to let go of a grudge, to eat ice cream, to sit a little longer with the needy child, to not take “it” personally, to reach out to the far away suffering person, to share a meaningful memory with the person closest to you.
Homeschooling is merely one way to wander through the years—a rich, layered, intimate way.
I don’t like it when people tell me to be grateful or urge me to be happy on days when I’m on the verge of tears.
Occasionally, though, when I’m going through the motions, it’s good to remember the bargain we’ve all made in life—there is no promised length to our days. Today is it.
So if you are in that place today—doing the routine without much thought, I hope you find a pocket of time to pause and remember. Remember the ones who died and have afforded us this life. Remember the ones who are yet alive and love you.
May today be a good day in the string of days that are your life.
Cross-posted on facebook.
Image © Uptall | Dreamstime.com
“I don’t like it when people tell me to be grateful or urge me to be happy on days when I’m on the verge of tears.” Amen to that! and going along with it is when you are deep in the trenches of dealing with issues with homeschooling young children, some “well meaning” older woman says “Enjoy these days because you’ll miss them”….it totally puts a false “rosy” romantic picture which is not accurate. Yes, these days are precious, but they ARE hard, too, and we must acknowledge that and allow ourselves to feel the emotions, not squelch them.
Truth! One of my friends puts it this way:
“The days of mothering are long, but the years are short.”
That captures it perfectly. 🙂