Kindness – Don’t miss your chance

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recently I was walking along a beach looking for shells. I walked into the water where the water’s edge washed over my feet.  I had to exert considerable effort to maintain my balance with every reach of the waves. Bending over to reach those precious treasures was a challenge-if I pulled back too late, the wave threatened my balance.  My sun hat was securely protecting my face and shoulders.

It was nearing sunset and lovers were cuddled together on the beach anticipating their life of romance and adventure. Families with children were frolicking in the water, a lifetime of experiences awaiting them. As I walked the beach, I reflected on the wonderful life I have had and the years ahead of me. The past is known, but the future is not so clear. I am reaching the age when it is no longer my parent’s friends who are passing, they are mine.

As I walked along, a young boy came running up to me with his arm extended. I had seen him playing in the water with someone who might have been his father. His outstretched hand held a perfect shell. The shell was intact, with no breakage. What a find!

The greater treasure was his kind action. He must have seen me looking for shells. Just before he came up to me, I had reached into the water to retrieve what I thought was a perfect shell, but missed it. I gave the old ‘damn it’ fist swing and moved on. Perhaps he saw that. Perhaps he saw someone who reminded him of his grandma. Whatever inspired him to bring me this flawless shell was birthed from kindness. I will treasure that shell as it means more to me than the ocean creature it once held. It means kindness from one generation to another.

“There’s no use doing a kindness if you do it a day too late.” Charles Kingsley

                                               

 

Art Gallery in My Mind

“As humans we look at things and think about what we’ve looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery.” Thom Gunn

My art gallery is in my mind. When I experience a beautiful moment, I linger there. I want to fully embrace it. I want to see it, feel it, smell it, listen to it, and taste it, if possible. My five senses become the colors for my art. Every experience doesn’t get protected in the gallery. Some experiences I remember, but I do not call up the memories. They fade some over time.

Other memories, I protect. They get placed in the art gallery and I visit them often.

Puffing my wedding veil from my face as I try not to cry as my groom is singing the song he wrote for me.

Standing on a pier in Santa Monica and watching the ocean greet the shore, seeing the textures in front of me: foot printed sand, white bubbling crashing waves, blue sky, and the green bluff of land jutting out of it’s mountain perch as it watches the same scene.

Stroking the hair at my husbands temples as he rests his head on my lap. He’d just gotten home from the hospital. As I stroke his temples, I note the gray that is beginning to appear. Life moves on and leaves it’s affects on us.

My father walking out on the empty golf course approaching a lone figure, crying in her grief. His arms folding around me, and telling me it will all be okay.

Waking up on the hospital room cot and seeing little white Kids tennis shoes gently tapping the floor as the person rocked to and fro on the other side of of the crib. I sit up on my cot, look over the crib, and discover the shoes belong to my sister who has come to comfort me while there with my infant daughter.

Feeling the hug from my friend when my world was falling apart. Feeling a comfort from him that reached to my soul.

Standing in a castle garden and giving my love to my second husband. Surrounded by nature, flowers, and the breath of spring. All full of hope and promise.

Seeing bright red flowers that grew from the stubborn black lava rock that covered the Big Island in Hawaii. Being so amazed that life could grow out of such hardship. Yet, knowing that to be true in my own life.

These are a few. The gallery is too big to describe all the art which is stored there. One of the beautiful things about this gallery, is that it never closes. I can enter it anytime I wish.

“The sun never sets on my gallery.” Larry Gagosian

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/linger/

It used to Be Easier

Memories are funny things. “Reflection, often repeated, becomes reality” my own personal quote.

I remember events in some ‘perfected’ way. As though these events did not include challenges:

I long for the days when my children were preschool age and life was simple.

I long for the days when I could do gardening and my joints didn’t hurt.

I long for the days when I wore size 6 and I had energy to spare.

Really?

If I think beyond those fleeting wishes, I recall:

Long days of exhaustion trying to keep up with two active preschoolers. While I adored my children, I was eager for just one long hot bubbly private bath! Life was not simple-I had to learn about neurology and what surgeries meant and how to navigate the complicated medical systems.

I cannot exactly remember ever working in the garden and my joints not hurting.

Imagine the delicious foods, and dinner with friends, I would have missed if I stayed a size 6. And the energy to spare, was a myth then, and remains a myth today.

Truth is, each day has it’s own pleasures and it’s own pain. Pain lets us grow, Pleasures help us endure the growth.

“We all pine for a time in life when things were simpler. Even when they weren’t necessarily simpler, hindsight makes them look a lot simpler.”  Ben Gibbard

Perhaps that is the beauty of memories. We can choose, selectively, what we record for daily reflection.