Gifts of a Lifetime

At a glance, today was a rather unremarkable day.  Earlier this morning as the sun started to think about showing up for the day, the adults of the house drank coffee, the child of the house ate cereal, we all scrambled to get dressed, and then it was off to our individual task lists for a weekday.  Work, school, errands.  Despite the turn of the calendar to March, the weather outside has declared a preference for midwinter, and the earth remains buried under 30 inches of dense snow.  Dishes needed to be done, the cat box needed cleaning, and the mundane to-do list of an office Monday hung out in the corner, quietly demanding attention.  Unremarkable.

But then at second glance, on this ordinary weekday, the child of the house turned a year older.  We celebrated the day she decided to come earth-side to offer us the chance to experience what being a family of three means.  Every year that ticks by reminds me how much a human being changes with the passing of time and how an understanding of time shifts with age.  As they say, the days are long, but the years are short.  Maybe this cliche is true.  Or maybe we just learn to see another layer of experience when caring for small humans.  Maybe how we walk through time shifts with every step we take further into our arc of life.  I don’t know.  What I do know is that an unremarkable Monday can hold wonders that are like deep wells of wisdom if we look into the depths, past the birthday parties and the gifts and the cake to what sharing life truly is.  There is wonder in how witnessing part of another life taking shape can shape us (Whether we are related to that other life by genetics or not).  Any birthday, be it my own, my child’s or my neighbor’s, can be a poignant reminder that being alive and in community with others is anything but unremarkable, despite the fact that it’s happening all the time, all over the world.

Life is happening all around us, starting and stopping and starting again in ways we will never understand.  Every day we have a chance to celebrate the fact that we are earth-side, and it’s the chance of a lifetime, isn’t it?  We are here, now, sharing space with other beings, some of whom we adore and some of who we do not, some who we see and some who need to be seen much more than they are.  We have the opportunity to see them and ourselves.  We can choose to see the passing of minutes, days, and years as gifts.  And on an unremarkable and astonishingly beautiful Monday in what might be the snowiest/coldest end to winter Minnesota has seen in a long time, we can let that be enough.

For Eva, on her birthday, and for you, wherever you are in this life.

May you always know

strength

courage

joy

in whatever form your

life takes.

May you always feel

fierce

compassionate

empowered

in whatever ways your

life needs.

May you always find

peace

purpose

freedom

in whatever direction your

life moves.

May you always know

you are whole

brave

loved

beyond measure.

May you always believe

you are part

of another’s

gift of a lifetime.