(This is the final planned post for 2008. I’ll be taking some time off for the holidays and will resume posting next year.)
Last summer, my wife and I spent the afternoon and evening at a distant relative’s cabin by a lake. We were visiting her brother and his family, who were staying there for a few days. We enjoyed an afternoon of swimming and fishing, and sat around a campfire as the night grew darker. In the hills surrounding the valley we were in, we could see thunderstorms. They were so distant that no sound reached us, but we saw the lightning flashing in the clouds many miles away. The four adults stood by the lake and watched as we quietly talked.
My nephew, not yet a teenager, came running up to us, bored by our apparent inactivity. He wanted to know what we were doing, why we were standing there watching lightning, when there were fun things to do!
The truth, in very adult terms, was that we all realized that we might never see something like that again. We certainly would never see it that way again, after a wonderful afternoon spent with our niece and nephews who would never be that young again, having eaten smores around a campfire nestled among pine trees by the lake’s edge, with no children ourselves but strongly considering starting a family.
We were fully in the moment, and recognized just how precious that moment was.
No matter what you celebrate, or how you celebrate, as the year draws to a close I hope you have a moment like that. That’s my holiday wish for all of us. Don’t get so caught up in “life” that you forget to take a few moments out to “live.”
See you in 2009.
3 comments ↓
Season’s greetings and have a great ’09.
Wonderful post Dave!
This past weekend the snow kept me grounded at home and fully tucked away with my family. There was no errands, no email, no Twitter and no TV, but for a Christmas special or two. Friends popped in (by foot); the fire was on non-stop; we played games; and looked at old family photos.
By Monday morning, I felt as though I had been on vacation for a month!
Here’s to the power of lightning, snow, family, friends, and silence.
Happy holiday to you! And thanks for making my 2008 brighter.
Cheers, Polly
A semi-redeeming aspect about the often-cited vagaries of weather… you’re forced to deal with them. Sometimes they deal with you. Snow and ice and rain have their way of bringing normal routine to a standstill or forcing you to make critical planning choices. At those times, you ought to really appreciate the basic comforts – heat, power, food – because you never know when next you might be without them. Talk about being “in the moment”; those kinds of moments are equally memorable – just much less enjoyable.
Here’s to a less-“interesting” season for us all.
=Chuck