Ordinary Days
My nephew Jake is still battling in the hospital and it feels so weird to once again be trying to do the routine things while being hammered with worry...shouldn't be this way.
And it always gets me to thinking about the ordinary days - those days that we seem to throw away waiting for something else to happen.
"I can't wait for the weekend."
"I wish today would just be over with."
"I'm counting the minutes until 5 o'clock."
Whenever I catch myself saying something like that I hear the voice of my former labor partner - back in the late 80's - who told me:
'Don't ever wish time away, my friend.'
It used to get real annoying when he'd tell me that. I was young. It never seemed that there'd ever be a shortage of days.
What did it matter if I threw an hour away here or there?
Yet think of all that can be done in an hour. Think of what you can do to make your life a little more productive. Think of the people in your life who wouldn't mind hearing from you in that 'wasted time.'
My last few evenings have been spent on the couch beside my son, Sam. We are playing a game called Angry Birds. It's a silly little game on our phones and we are engaged in an epic battle. The game is both addicting and difficult and my frustration with it thrills Sam to no end.
He is also quite frustrated from moment to moment and he does a wonderful job of mimicking my father's favorite Italian curse word phrase.
(I know it's wrong, but it cracks me up to hear him say it with the same inflection of aggravation that my Dad used to use).
He doesn't mean to swear - he just picked it up like the rest of us. (Right Pops, Fluff, Aunts and Uncles out there). Besides if he starts saying it now - chances are he will still say it when he has kids - and the expression will carry on.
Anyway...I don't feel as if I am wasting my time. I think back to games and tasks shared with my parents. Wonderful memories that have stayed with me through the lonely minutes, hours, weeks, months and years.
Minutes to memories.
It's hard to make every minute count, you know, but having a sense of the big picture allows you to gain a little sight, right?
Say a prayer for Jake...I want him to have a long, healthy life of 'ordinary days'.
And it always gets me to thinking about the ordinary days - those days that we seem to throw away waiting for something else to happen.
"I can't wait for the weekend."
"I wish today would just be over with."
"I'm counting the minutes until 5 o'clock."
Whenever I catch myself saying something like that I hear the voice of my former labor partner - back in the late 80's - who told me:
'Don't ever wish time away, my friend.'
It used to get real annoying when he'd tell me that. I was young. It never seemed that there'd ever be a shortage of days.
What did it matter if I threw an hour away here or there?
Yet think of all that can be done in an hour. Think of what you can do to make your life a little more productive. Think of the people in your life who wouldn't mind hearing from you in that 'wasted time.'
My last few evenings have been spent on the couch beside my son, Sam. We are playing a game called Angry Birds. It's a silly little game on our phones and we are engaged in an epic battle. The game is both addicting and difficult and my frustration with it thrills Sam to no end.
He is also quite frustrated from moment to moment and he does a wonderful job of mimicking my father's favorite Italian curse word phrase.
(I know it's wrong, but it cracks me up to hear him say it with the same inflection of aggravation that my Dad used to use).
He doesn't mean to swear - he just picked it up like the rest of us. (Right Pops, Fluff, Aunts and Uncles out there). Besides if he starts saying it now - chances are he will still say it when he has kids - and the expression will carry on.
Anyway...I don't feel as if I am wasting my time. I think back to games and tasks shared with my parents. Wonderful memories that have stayed with me through the lonely minutes, hours, weeks, months and years.
Minutes to memories.
It's hard to make every minute count, you know, but having a sense of the big picture allows you to gain a little sight, right?
Say a prayer for Jake...I want him to have a long, healthy life of 'ordinary days'.
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