Half a lifetime ago, I was in the twilight of youth and the dawning of adulthood. College, marriage, career, parenthood, all lying in the unknown. Dreams of adventures, travel, people, places, milestones and wishes were jumbled up inside. Excitement, anticipation, knowledge, fear, certainty, questions, answers, hope, joy. There were millions of choices still to be made. But with each choice made, the jumble lessened. One path chosen, others passed by.
One day. It seems like such a small increment. Yet that is where life is lived. In the moments that make up such a small window of our lives. Good things. Beautiful things. Horrible things. Blah things. Tests, chores, phone calls, decisions, graduations, marriages, childbirth... Each event altering the choices that will be made in the future, until one day you wake up and realize that the bestseller hasn't been written, the grand trip hasn't been scheduled, opportunities have come and gone, and perhaps your greatest adventures involve the ones you read aloud to your children or watch unfold on the movie screen or TV and the most thrilling part of your day will be when your child "gets it" during a lesson on line segments and graphs.
Caught up in those moments that make up a boring day, but all together knit the pieces of our lives together to form an adventure. Nothing that anyone would write about or fight for, dream of, or maybe even remember. A quiet life, where dreams of novels and fame, successful careers, places to go and people to meet are replaced with smaller things. Time to read, report cards, refrigerator art, date nights, a comfortable chair and a glass of wine.
Struggling...
3 years ago
2 comments:
Melinda, you make such a good point.
I wonder if we realise that in 20 or 30 years from now, what we see as the "drudgery" days now will become the "good old" days then.
Right now, with the state north of me suffering horrendous floods and damage and heartbreak, the journey its people have ahead of them is riddled with battles over insurance money, rebuilding, burying their loved ones, and just getting their lives back on track, makes me sit here right now and think "I love the life I have right now. All is well. Be thankful."
"Life in San Francisco is still just life, you want one thing too much its like to turn out a disappointment. Its my reckoning you have to learn to enjoy the little things, a warm glass of buttermilk of an evening or the company of a distinguished gentleman such as myself" Gus McCrae to Lorrie Wood, 'Lonesome Dove', (paraphrased).
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