As I further examined my life and how I was choosing to live it, a question popped into my head.
"How would I want my daughter to remember me?"
When I do pass someday, I want my daughter to remember that I loved life, and above all, loved her to pieces. That I smiled a lot, and always seemed to make her laugh, even when times seemed tough. That rather than letting the little things bother me, I appreciated all the good things.
The other day, my husband and daughter were outside in the driveway. They had the garage door open and were tossing a ball back and forth (my husband at the end near the road, and my daughter up next to the garage). Since the garage was open and the weather was cool and breezy, I decided to go through some things, for our upcoming garage sale.
As I went toward the garage, I saw my daughter turn and look at me. She smiled. I hesitated, thinking of all the things I could look through and get done. I looked back at her and she was sitting on the ground, patting it and saying "sit."
I thought to myself, if this were my last 30 days, what would I do?
Go play ball.
It was so much fun. We rolled the ball back and forth to my husband. She laughed. We smiled and just loved life.
We noticed the blue sky, and the birds singing. We saw the squirrels scurrying around the lawns, looking for food to stash away for the winter. One squirrel crossed the road to dig and bury something it found.
I noticed the weeds growing in the cracks of the driveway. And thought, if given a chance, life will succeed. Even a weed can manage to pull itself up and spurt out through concrete. How many of these nominal things through our day do we not notice?
If we looked harder and listened more, what would we come across?
A beautiful bird singing a melody? Two prairie dogs kissing? (an extremely cute sight)
A mom and a daughter laughing and appreciating that very moment above all?
Make time to appreciate what is important in your life. And reach out when you can. Even if it's just to say to someone, "wow, you look great in that color shirt."
It makes your day, and better than that - someone else's.
So, I've learned more. To practice kindness. At the library, or any environment where someone is helping me with something, I try to make a point to smile at them. Ask how they are. The difference is now I'm not going through the motions, I really mean it.
Thanks again to Genny at MyCup2Yours for sharing this opportunity with all of us. You can go to her blog to read all of her great reflections during her one month. If you missed my first post, be sure to check it out too. There's also still time to chime in and share your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.
-heather
