The Now

 

Living in the now. So wise. So hard to do. Seriously, though, what choice do we have at this point? We have never controlled the future, but that’s more true now than ever. We can’t change the past. That’s for sure. All we have is right now. Maybe that’s the big lesson in all of this.

My son recently said he was grateful, not for the pandemic, but for the opportunity he has had to be with his one-year-old daughter in a way that would have never happened otherwise. He would have missed so much. So much you can’t get it back.

Prior to the pandemic, our lives had morphed into being constantly on the go. With few exceptions, we were rarely still. I read something recently that talked about “urgent” tasks. That being, I have to go to the grocery, I have to make dinner, I have to do laundry, I have to get the kids to bed, I have to do this report, I have to get to work on time, I have to, have to, have to. The reality is, real living takes place in between these “have tos.”

This month my sister was seriously ill. She could have died. Because of a random circumstance she got help just in time. It wasn’t her time. I was able to be with her constantly for two weeks before her daughter took over. My sister and I had not seen each other in person since last Christmas. We talked frequently on the phone but how could that happen? The pandemic of course. Because I had been quarantining this whole time, I knew it was safe to stay with her. Still. I had lots of things I “had to do.” I figured it out. I chose to be with her. To be in the now. Because at the end of the day, you just don’t ever know.

I choose to be grateful for now. Now is good. I'm going with it.