Many, many blogmates have such challenges at the moment. One wrote her last blog post. Heart-breaking. We had exchanged much over the years, she would send me Tennessee handmade soap Another, a pillar of elder-blogging, is facing a very finite life now after many treatments. Another's wife has been diagnosed with a serious cancer. I won't link to any of them for if you've been following them at all you'll know. And I respect their privacy at this time. I know that many of my long term blog-mates follow the same blogs as I.
All of this to say, I've lost a few dear blog mates over the years. One develops quite a history when you read each other's words. Often daily. And it focuses my mind very sharply as I head in that same direction myself. I am under no illusion of eternal life. Unless you count stardust which may not be as inanimate as we think. To dust we shall return has massive truth.
So the nugget?
Take absolutely nothing for granted.
Maybe that's the secret of life?
I look around within my own radius and even the tiniest things bring me joy. I don't take any of them for granted. In spite of whatever ails me - you know what I mean.
An African Violet that won't stop blooming
It really does fill the heart to look around - what do you see from where you're sitting, standing, lying? And do you take it/them for granted?
You and your insights always touch my heart, WWW.
ReplyDeleteI don't take anything for granted. Instead, please do laugh, I rely on my innate/inane optimism to take care of things. As far as I can see there is always hope on the horizon, hope and trust in the future hanging from both ends of a rainbow.
Earlier today as I was walking across a carpark, heavily planted up with trees, I picked up a few leaves shed by their hosts. Autumn's colours are so sumptious, so luxuriant. As I type this they give me joy displayed in a little vase on the window sill running along my desk - ruby reds illuminated by the afternoon's sun.
As to (blogging) friends: I hope we won't lose each other for a long time yet.
Hug,
U
"hope and trust in the future hanging from both ends of a rainbow."
DeleteHow I love that, Ursula, so very true. And those colours! We have a red sumach out back and it puts me close to tears with a colour not found anywhere else!
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"Take absolutely nothing for granted". I totally agree. However comfortable or well-off or healthy we happen to be, it could all go pear-shaped tomorrow. I just enjoy my good fortune while I can and hope it will continue. Right now, I'm enjoying the spectacular colours of the autumn trees gradually shedding their leaves.
ReplyDeleteFall is such a gift before winter sets in, astonishing us repeatedly with the spectacular displays.
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As we get older we understand more about taking joy in every moment. I try to write more, I try to go more places and see more old friends. I guess the old saying about getting wiser as we age is true. We just have a better understanding of what's important.
ReplyDeleteVery true Judith, old age is a gift and so many miss this reflective time when we actually have time.
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I have a habit of sliding into focusing on what I don't like and want to change/fix, instead of appreciating the many joys and good fortunes of the moment I'm in. I must constantly be reminding myself how much beauty there is around me, right now, and of how happy I actually am. It's all about awareness, isn't it! And choice.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you about blogging friends. There are some who naturally come and go throughout the years as my interest in their writings ebbs and flows, but there are others whose lives remain as important to me as those of loved ones with whom I'm personally acquainted. Some, when they stop blogging and fall out of touch, I still miss and wonder about many years later. How are they doing? Are they okay? No longer being able to find out feels like a loss. Knowing they've passed away or are suffering serious illness is even worse.
There's a prayer a friend sent me when Mom was going through the cancer that led to her death. Here's the link to where I posted it on my blog at the time. It gave me comfort. -Kate
https://xoetc.antville.org/stories/857447/
Some I never found out either Kate and other bloggers and I would speculate as to what happened. Others have written their final blog posts and some even sent me a final note in the mail as to what the virtual friendship meant.
DeleteI hope to have a final note prepared and ready to roll when the time comes or at least leave access to the blog for Daughter.
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Some of my blog friends have died, too, and I miss them dearly. I love your violets and your knitting.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gigi.
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Yes, just last night I sat here thinking about how fortunate I am to be sitting in my own home, having prepared and eaten my own food and will sleep in my own bed. Grateful for all the good things. Lots of sadness right now in blogland.
ReplyDeleteI agree DKZ, I've been blogging for about 15 years, many changes.
DeletePowerful learning too.
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WWW, do you think Earnestine wrote her last blog post? I check in on her site everyday. So sad.
ReplyDeleteIt sounded like it lejmom, didn't it? I imagine she's conserving her strength for her final journey.
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I live as though I’m going on forever though I know my time is finite. If anything, I think about how I should do more for just that reason. I look around seeing a small hand-carved pelican purchased on a driving trip up the west coast with my husband years ago, a bxw scenic photo taken of an old dirt road winding throug a forested countryside taken by my son in a college photography class, a framed etching he made in elementary school that says “I love you Mom”, a dropleaf cherry wood table that was my grandmother’s, a framed mushroom wood cut copy created by my SIL — special-to-me items from others — all triggering memories, emotional feelings.
ReplyDeleteIt is all the small stuff, isn't it Joared? Nothing really of monetary "value" but invaluable to us indeed.
DeleteI look at some of this and know it will mean nothing to anyone else.
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My daughters are very good at seeing beauty where I might be distracted and miss it. I am trying to learn from them.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely Kylie, I too am always open to the observations and reactions of others. I learn so much by being attentive.
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I have so few material things in my life that I cannot simply take what there are for granted. I have a great many relationships in my life that nourish me and even if I want to, I cannot take them for granted.
ReplyDeleteSo true Ramana, relationships are the most important including the relationship we have with ourselves. I never take any of my interactions for granted.
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I enjoyed your post very much. We are kindred spirits. As I lie there this morning listening to the mockingbird welcome the first light of day, I felt grateful for him and another day. Nothing can be taken for granted, nor should it be. Life is a series of remarkable moments, that when stitched together with threads of gratitude, constitute a life well lived. Thank you for your words. I also blog, am over 60 and would love you to read my work. TheYearsBeyondYouth.com Fran
ReplyDeleteHi Fran and welcome. I will certainly visit you now. I remember the magpies in my friend's house in Dublin. I would lean on the windowsill and just listen to them. So beautiful.
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I have lost a few bloggers. One blogged through her terminal cancer and captured my heart, another exactly my age who died suddenly. I think about both of them frequently.
ReplyDeleteJust catching up here WWW. I'm coaching myself to do as you do, appreicate small things - and to realise what I'm doing. :)
ReplyDeleteI, too have lost blog friends to sickness and death over the years since 2006 when I began blogging. They come into my mind often, though I knew them only from their own writings and contributions to my scribblings.
We're heading for Christmas once again, I dread hearing, or assuming from lack of information, that another from my Christmas card list (for the UK) is no longer with us.
As Native Americans used to say "Only the stones last forever."
Yes ever mindful of our temporal existence on this wee planet, I'm opening my eyes more to every little detail.
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