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Self-Care Tip # 224 – When you have something beautiful, stop and think about how you feel, and then shrink it into some words to remember for always.
The day is late and sand is in my ears and between my toes. I don’t have much left on the clock before I should shower and sleep.
Earlier, while walking to the car with my daughter, I remembered Anne Hathaway‘s performance in the movie, “Love and Other Drugs,” based on Jamie Reidy‘s 2005 memoir, “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.” Hathaway plays the role of “Maggie,” who despite her progressive demise secondary to Parkinson’s Disease, says to her love,
This is how happy I am, in this moment right now, the way the light’s hitting that face of yours, there’s this little breeze coming…, it doesn’t matter if I have 10,000 more moments like this or just this one because…. Right now this moment. I have this.
The sun had set and we were wet and barefoot trying to get back to the car before dusk faded out. I asked my daughter that if she could put all the feelings inside her she was feeling right then, that moment, into a tight little ball, “What are the words to describe it?”
This isn’t easy for a seven year-old to do developmentally and poor girl, I torture her with these questions. And for all her suffering, I couldn’t tell you what she said beyond, “happy.” But I do remember thinking, “This moment. This moment is enough.”
She was so beautiful, full up of goodness. She belonged in the moment. And me? I was a part of it by God’s magic. And now I have it. Some bit of heaven already.
Questions – What moment(s) comes to mind that you have to remind you of what makes life worth living? What do you have that is enough? Please tell me your story.
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Beautiful!!! Well said cuz even in the midst of pain or craziness or whatever is going on, there are beautiful moments and blessed things that happen. I, for one, am loving the early morning rising moon right now, as the dawn is warming the sky and that one diamond of a planet. Wow. The moment.
“even in the midst of pain or craziness or whatever is going on, there are beautiful moments” – better. u said it better. thank u skirt for this.
Being there with Marie when she died and with my granddaughter when she was born; hearing my granddaughter’s voice on a Hallmark book she sent me for my birthday; watching my daughters (ages 38 and 41) giggle together like little kids while we talked on Skype the other night; listening to my son-in-law adore his family; seeing my husband glow has he found his special place on campus Monday morning 50-something years after he left it there. So worth living! Love is enough.
thank u nance. i remember u telling us about marie and am happy to hear about her again, tying us into your story more, along w these other wonders of life.
I loved the last paragraph. Well said. Our children are a bit of heaven given to us.
thanks so much rebecca! thank u as well for reading and commenting.
This is a lovely post, Doc, it calls to mind one of my favourite quotes of all time:
If you give up your independence to share your life with someone, it should be a state of existence that improves on being single. Sometimes, not all the time of course, but sometimes when you’re sitting down to breakfast opposite each other or getting into a car together or just lying in each other’s arms, you should catch your breath and think:
Being with this person here and now is what lends reason to and makes logic of everything else in the world.
© ROSIE THOMAS
oh cindy. how did u get to b this way? u remind me of madeleine l’engle sometimes. so well read. such an ability to consolidate and expand thought. bless u.
The absolute glee of children running down the stairs to the tree on Christmas morning…
putting up w stairs the whole yr is worth it just for that! sounds divine.
this is beautiful! One of my favourite ‘moments’ was when I was working as a camp counsellor at a summer programme for people with learning disabilities, and spent an afternoon teaching an adult participant to tie his shoes – when he finally got the hang of it, he said ‘no one has to do this for me again – isn’t that great’ – and it reminded me about how so often it’s the small things that happen to us, that we learn, that make such a great difference.
i dig that! thank u for describing it so well, taking us w u for a bit.
Love reading about this time with your daughter. I just read another blog about special moments with her little girl. You guys are (almost) making me sad that I don’t have a daughter…at least I can share in the experience through you guys. Every ordinary moment is packed with extraordinary, we just have to learn to look for it and appreciate it.
Every ordinary moment is packed with extraordinary – awesome. thanks suzicate
you know today i went to the doctors i got my sick note for four weeks so i will be going on ESA like everyone has pointed me to but this is also a sad day my doctor is leaving he is going to teach medical students i won my little war for the time being but i get to the end of this and it doesnt take my probelms away makes life a little easyer for the time being but i am sad to see him go when iam sad amd unhappy or depressed the thing that keeps going is im at university might not be much but means a lot to me also i have the support of other people and the thing that got me the other night i wirte on another blog and i found out the other night how ill he really was and it was a shock me me me me maybees i have just a little to much of me sometimes and i should help other people and see there vies a bit more and i should be a bit more toulerent to them i do support quite a few people and i allways see that they are coping just that little bit better than me witch means that i can do that but its just going to take time just like you cant teach a old dog new tricks you can but it takes time
nice direction you’re headed kevin!
I remember looking into my soon to be husband’s eyes when he showed up at the wedding and hearing him say, “You look like you are surprised to see me here”. Life is full of wonderful, precious moments. We just have to be willing to take the time to see them, and experience them, and recognize them. Great post today.
thanks pattyann. that’s a killer moment
What moments, words, feelings have stayed with me like tattoos on my heart? The precious moments of romance during the seven years of marriage to my husband, now deceased. He spoke the words of love and devotion that so many men are incapable of speaking. He lifted me up and held me there. He made me feel worthy. I felt everyday like his new bride. Blessings to you, Sana…
wow! that was hot verse u brewed there carol ann. and your perspective w these tattoos is rejuvenating. blessed
I didn’t mean to brew up a steamy comment. 🙂 But I read it over after reading your reply, and I see what you mean. My face is pink. Blessings…
it is lovely on u. hugs
hmm… well, I have too many to recount here, and would be hard pressed to pick just one. I guess that means I have a really blessed life. Thanks for reminding me.
you bet blue! happy to share happy space. keep on.
Hard questions. I can’t think of any specific moments, but I guess any moment where nothing bad is happening can make life worth living, if you just think about and appreciate it. Coming home safely, playing with pets, watching birds in the yard. All kinds of things can make me feel at peace and make life worth living. Sometimes, I just look around and am simply grateful that I can see and hear. There are actually a lot of things to be grateful for.
i’ve had those too duck. your comment was lovely. thank u for helping many of us see more of these bits of bits worth seeing.
When my son was an infant, my husband and I took him for a walk on the boardwalk one evening. On the way back, it got a bit chilly and he started to howl with hunger. We sat down on a bench facing the ocean so I could nurse him, and we wrapped a blanket around the three of us to keep out the chill. In that moment, staring down at my baby with my husband at my side, the sound of waves crashing in the distance, and the smell of honeysuckle in the air, I was the most content that I’ve ever been in my life. That memory is seared in my brain.
sizzle! thank u margaret. this is breathtaking.
I love this post because I brought me right back to that feeling-that fleeting moment when it all felt beautiful.
I have many moments like this when at the beach on a warm sunny day and I can float on my back in the ocean and look up to the vast sky…or when driving down the road and the sun casts brilliant shadows through the clouds on a bright early morning…
dear woman, i can somehow see u in these places, in these moments and i am suddenly a part of the beauty. thank u for bringing beauty to our lives by sharing Sharon. keep on.
So many awful memories and many reminders of how it all shattered, and fell apart….hard to see the moments any more 🙁
Hello Julie. Sad times. Standing with u if u need us, as best we can. u r not alone. keep on.
the question in this post is very relevant to me right now. it’s the people around me (and what they have done for me) make life worth living.
ca-ching. awesome share. thank u.