Moments

I don’t know why every now and then I have the urge to blog.  I think it is like cleaning the house.  Stuff mounts up and I do nothing about it until it hits a certain point and then I just have to hoe out.  I think that is the way it is with the clutter that takes up residence in my mind.  It gets to a certain point where it is overflowing and I have to hoe it out.  It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it…I have cleared it out and now have room for more stuff in my brain.  It all has to do with thinking.

One morning I was thinking…and that quite often gets me into trouble.  I was thinking about time.  I was thinking about moments – moments in time.  I seem to do that a lot lately.   I have this habit.  I guess you would call it a habit that I have developed over time.  I celebrate moments of gratitude.  I have done it for years.  I think I got thinking about it this time because I had several reminders.

This most recent thinking began back in April.  Yes, I am a slow thinker.  The Marathon Bombing had gotten a lot of press coverage based on updated investigation findings and the Anniversary of that terrible day.  I remember that day  – I am sure that we all do.  But that day, I remember celebrating a moment of gratitude.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was sitting on the front porch in the peeling white rocking chair.  In the gazing ball I could see my reflection holding a book with a can of diet coke beside me.  There was a hummingbird hovering between the feeder and the plant above my head.  I could actually hear the fluttering of wings and the high-pitched sound he made as he hovered.  It was shortly before 3 o’clock, so the sun was hot and bright - headed beyond the porch.  I knew that the tempo of the day was going to change and the warmth of one of the first really beautiful days of that spring would soon be gone.    I knew that it was almost time to go inside to get my daily dose of Dr. Phil and that after that, the sun would be near setting and it would be time to start supper and do all the other end of the day chores.  In that moment I reminded myself that everything was okay and that in that moment all was good in my world.  I then went inside only to discover that the bombing had taken place.  Although all continued to be good in my little world, the lives of many had been shattered – in that moment.

Another trigger that got me thinking was a quote I received from a friend.  It read:  “Time constricts and flattens, you know.  It’s not evenly weighted.  Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.”  Thank you, Jennie.  On the day I received that quote, my daughter in law posted her new job on Face Book.  Before the end of the day, she was posting on the college shooting in Seattle that her paper was covering.  Those moments were not evenly weighted. I was celebrating a gratitude moment for one of my family members, but knew that many were not experiencing a moment of gratitude on that day.  I was reminded that those moments that are negative stay with us longer – some - forever.  I was reminded that although moments of great joy stay with us forever - those small moments are sometimes not remembered or celebrated at all.

I think that my thinking was pushed in the direction of time by the celebration of Alumni Weekend.  How could the Class of 1964 have graduated 50 years ago?  Wasn’t it just a year or so ago?  Seeing many faces from the past and missing the faces of others is a strong reminder of how time marches on.  Many of us had clearly brought good memories along with us to the various events.  Moments that had disappeared for some were remembered by others and were shared with laughter and with tears.  New moments were created to be remembered.

Very recently I received another quote from my friend Jenny.  It read:  “Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life.  Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting and make the most of the moment you’re in right now.”  I need to have that framed.  I am always waiting for something.  That is not a bad thing – IF I remember to make the most of all the moments that come my way.  In that same timeframe, I updated my Face Book Cover.  It read “Three weeks and I AM counting.  My friend Darlene replied that she hoped it would go by fast for me.  Her reply could have been read in different ways.  I know that she meant the time until all of my family members arrive.  I posted back – “and then slow down while they are here”.  The moments leading up to the time that they arrive and the moments that they are here have different weights.   As I plan for Peggy’s 85^th birthday, I think back to her 80^th.   The moments that we are all together in the same place are celebrated the most.  I think about those who were with us that day – and will be with us in spirit on this birthday.

I recently finished a book by an unfamiliar author.  The title was “Watching You” by Michael Robotham.   I found this quote:  “I feel as though I rushed through life, trying to save time, and now I’ve got too much of it.  I want to give it back, do it over, only more slowly.  Remember that the total of a man’s days eventually become a circle not a sum.  And when it’s all over and you’re back where you started, you wish you did it slower”.  The strange thing about thinking about something is that it is like Velcro.  New thoughts keep sticking.  I went to Church the Sunday after finishing that book and our priest used a quote from Mae West.  “You only get one life, but if you do it right, that’s all you need”.  The trick is the same as for all things:  Doing it Right”.

I also know that I am not the only one that practices moments of gratitude.  Yesterday morning I was skimming Face Book and saw the posting of a friend.  It read:  Boring story, you had to see it: last night after dinner I notice two little woodpeckers out at the feeder squabbling away at each other. This morning they are right back at it, only they are hitting each other's beaks and really squabbling away. The funniest part is one turned around and the other one gave it a jab on the backside with its’ beak. As I said, you had to be here. Glad I saw it though.

I am glad you saw it, Holly – and it was not boring.  I saw it through your eyes – and it gave me a moment of gratitude.  In that moment – all was right in our worlds.  I am grateful that you gave me the chance to celebrate it with you!