Louise

Life is so fast.  I wish that I could bring myself to step out of the rat race of life more often to appreciate the richness that so often passes us by.  I lost an aunt this week and I grieve her death.  I grieve for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  I grieve for my father.  He lost a brother when he was a child, and his parents and other sister died in the 80's and 90's. 

I am approaching a time in my life when the way I view it is beginning to change.  I'm learning that you don't have to squeeze everything out of life for all that it is worth.  Life has enough to offer on its own.  We spend too much effort managing our time, our finances, our children, our possessions-- you get the idea, but the more time we spend managing them, the more they really manage us.

So tomorrow I will spend the day as I have many others.  A life on pause to remember a life that has stopped.  The world will continue around me, I will watch its vibrations and movements, the coming and going of living, but I will be still-- the only way to really appreciate the value of a life that is no more; probably the only way to really appreciate the value of a life.  It seems to take a long time to learn this, but today I prepare so that tomorrow I may simply be... with the ones I grew up with, with the ones who share my blood, with the ones I love.

May we and I especially learn to simply be, and enjoy life for all that it is worth instead of trying to use it all until it is dry and we haven't the time to appreciate it.