I know that those of you who follow my blog love funny. Unfortunately, today is not funny. I shall try to do better next week, but this week I have my reasons for my lack of humor.
I turned on the news this morning, and was literally speechless – footage of the tsunami hitting the cost of Japan, casting large trucks as if they were matchbox cars, water so black it looked as though it had run through the coal hills of my childhood home of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I wondered how many people were in that water, how many innocent victims were swept up in the wrath of Mother Nature, how many children lost a parent, lost their lives. Life is fragile - indeed so fragile that in an instant we can be crushed like ants on the ground. The world is a scary and amazing place.
Everything can change in a moment. Some say it is God’s wrath raining down on us, like a powerful storm. Some say it is our cosmic karma. My take on it all is that everything changes, every moment of every day, and nothing is really in our control, although we refuse to believe otherwise. We take so much for granted, and we put such a high price tag on things that, in the end, are really worthless. What is really important in the grand scheme of things? A large luxurious house? A tricked-out set of wheels with all the bells and whistles? The latest Coach purse? Let’s be honest, what purse is really worth $300 or more? How many times in the past have you just “had to have” that purse. Looking back, would you still buy it? I wouldn’t. If by chance I don’t wake up in the morning, will that purse, or car, or house make any difference? It will not. It is merely stuff, worldly posessions that fill voids in our collective lives and psyche for some silly reason.
I think the past couple of years, and all its economic adversity, have been a wakeup call for many, including myself. Unfortunately, with each step forward (no matter how small) towards economic and financial improvement, we slowly begin to lose sight of lessons learned. It’s not what we own, it is who we are as human beings, and how we care for each other. It is our families, and the time we spend with them. It is remembering to ALWAYS say I love you at the end of a phone conversation because you just never know what will happen tomorrow, or even five minutes from now.
I, myself, have learned that while I love to drink a nice bottle of red wine from the Paso Robles region of California at $30 bucks a bottle or more, I can derive just as much pleasure from a bottle of Two Buck Chuck. I can still pour it in a nice glass, savor it while sitting quietly with Bill, our lives blissfully buzzing around us. The feeling is the same. It’s not the wine, it’s the company I keep. It is my life, and all the countless blessings that surround me every day. I try to always remember that.
I hope my friends know how much I adore them. I hope my family knows that they are the most important people in the world to me, and that I will always be there for them, under any circumstances. I want my daughter to know that no matter what she thinks on any given morning, she is the most beautiful, brightest shining star in my universe. And I want my Bill to know that not only can I not remember my life before him, I cannot imagine waking up on any given day and him not being next to me.
To those barely holding on by a thread, I wish you God’s speed, and light at the end of a very dark tunnel. You have all the positive energy I can send your way. To those who choose to be a part of my life, I urge you take a one minute out of your day, and take stock of all of your blessings and good fortune, even though they are sometimes hard to see for all the daily crap that surrounds us...because all those blessings could be gone in the blink of an eye.
My love to you.
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