Thursday, February 5, 2009

Little Things

I often think life is too busy. I have to be here or there, get this done or that, and before I know it, I look back and wonder where all the time has gone. In the busy-ness of life, it’s too easy to forget to stop and enjoy the little things.

This past week I had two funerals to attend. It’s interesting to find that funerals have a way of making you stop and reflect. You reflect on the person and their life, your own life and it’s direction, your loved ones and what they mean to you, and the memories you cherish and that are near and dear to your heart.

While at the viewing of one funeral, my son was in another room with other children. They had set up the room for the younger kids to draw and color to occupy their time as the viewing would last almost two hours. During that time, Bryan walked in and handed my husband and I a picture he had drawn and colored. It was of a rainbow. I don’t even remember the last time I stopped to enjoy a rainbow, much less stopped to look at one with my son and talk with him of the beauty of a rainbow.
I made sure I did that day.

I don’t always know of a way to lighten my schedule. There are things that can’t be changed or rearranged due to the necessities of life but I do know that I can prioritize a little better and I can, no, I know that I should and that I need to make more time for the little things in life. It’s in those moments that my most precious memories can be made.

There is a saying. I apologize for I have no idea who said it, or wrote it, so I can’t give proper credit, but it is on the wall of my home. I placed it in the family room where it would be a constant reminder to me to take time to appreciate the little things.
It says, “Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and find they were the big things.”
I will do that, more often than I have done in the past.

3 comments:

Jennie said...

Excellent observations, Jeri.

Cheri J. Crane said...

Very touching blog, Jeri. And you're so right---it is the little things that matter most. =)

Anonymous said...

Some of the memories I have of my mom are small but very sweet.
Like when she thought she threw her dentures away in the garbage after dinner at Wendy's and I went back to the restaurant and went through both bins only to find that when I got back home, she said, oh, I remembered, they're in my mouth). Or when I asked what I could do to be a better person (who else to ask but my mom), she said nothing, you're perfect the way you are. And my memories with my nieces, when my brother and I got home from work late one night and his daughters had made us dinner (think Parent Trap) and even made us a menu inspired by all the work they did to get ready titled "The Clean House Cafe." And they plays they wrote and performed for me, especially the doctor one with stuffed animals (he has too many bones in his beak). Well, you get the idea. And as for busy-ness, sigh. Opposition in all things I guess. Lovely, lovely post, Geri.