Friday, September 9, 2011

Rembering what's important

“When we understand how precious each moment is, we can treat each breath, each moment, as a newborn baby.”
Michelle McDonald

10 years. Has it really been that long? I can’t believe that much time has passed, but here we are, 2011.

It’s interesting... my 40-something brain (wow... sometimes it’s really weird to see that number in relation to MY years) is like a steel sieve... eh, who am I kidding, it’s been like that for years. Drives my mom buggy - she can remember people from my kindergarten class, and I can barely remember who I went to High School with (one of the nice things about Teh Ebil Facebooks... my HS peeps find ME! :) let alone who I talked to last week.

But That Day... 10 years later it’s still burned in my memory. I could practically give you a detailed account of the mad panic feeling I had waking up a little late, the annoyance of my phone ringing off the hook, the kicked-in-the-stomach feeling when I turned on the TV, the helpless feeling I had at work when I got the call from the woman who trained me to take her job so she could move to New York with her husband... her tearful account of watching people perish as she ran for her life to get away from Ground Zero, finding out another friend had two close friends on one of the planes (love ya A! My heart goes out to you even more this year!! Wish I could be there to give you a great big, never ending hug... tell M he has to fill in till I can deliver it myself. ;) my own breakdown when I got home, wondering why? How? Now what?

“The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start thinking your work is terribly important.” - Milo Bloom

So many times That Day has been referred to as America’s Wake Up call. And here we are, 10 years later. A “big” “anniversary”. ::throws confetti:: A mile marker to take some time to stop, reflect, take in the distance to see how far we’ve come, and where we’re going.

The questions is, how far /have/ we as a people, as a country, as a culture come since That Day? Have we learned the lesson or are we still needing some edjumacating? (sound it out... it’s fun. :)

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for me... and That Day was a wake up call. I know that I have come a long way, but I’m still learning some lessons, and the biggest one is being reminded of what’s really important

“When I did get home this last time, we had all these plans to go out. And then we hardly stepped outside because the time together seemed too precious.”
—EMILY WATSON

Precious.

Ok, I admit, I want to say that all creepy/Lord of the Rings/Gollum like, but really, that word has found it’s way to the forefront of my life lately. Learning what’s really precious - not the stuff, the things that are tangible but forgettable, but the people and the moments because those are fleeting and temporary, but stick to your heart forever.

That Day’s anniversary approaching reminds me that, in a few months, it’ll mark the 10-year “anniversary” that my Memaw was called home (thinking I’ll have to learn to make a proper fried pie to mark that occasion, I’ll leave the coconut cake making to someone else. Bleh. LOL!), and that family - the one your born into and the one you choose for yourself with the friends that surround you - is so much more important and precious than getting in a few more hours at work.

It reminds me that I’m 10 years older... I’ve got a few more miles under my belt, and hopefully I’m a little wiser for the journey.

It reminds me that 5 years ago, I was amazingly lucky to have found a man who puts up with me and my weird quirkiness... and despite all that, is proud to call me his wife.

It reminds me that, even though I don’t have a “perfect” body, I’m alive, and despite self-induced set backs, I still have better health now than I did then.

It reminds me that, even though That Day turned the world upside down, not just emotionally, but economically, and those ripples are still being felt to this day, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. No, I don’t like that so many people are struggling financially, that unemployment is still high and it’s difficult to find a job. But maybe, in the turning-upside-down-ness of things, it helped us all dump out the cr@p that really doesn’t matter, and discover the precious treasure that was buried underneath: Hope. Faith. Love. Time.

I had to this post about some amazing life lessons: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/09/carrot-ginger-coconut-soup-and-kale-chips/Lesson’s 5-8 are awesome... and the recipe sounds nummy... food for the mind and soul.

Even though the approach of That Day stirs up so many different emotions, I am grateful for the time to remember... the people I never met, the people I have in my life now, the people who have passed, the ones that I have yet to meet.

You all are precious.