The Real Message of This Picture

My mom sent this to me recently.

It is a wonderful image of me, my dear mother, and my grandfather, Elliott.

It was a cold winter day in Upstate New York. If you look closely you can see the mittens that my mother made for me dangling from my coat. My mother sewed them totogether and threaded them through my coat, so that I wouldn't lose them when I discarded them as my hands got hot.

Looking at the picture now, what is most apparent is the joy and love and happiness coursing through all three of us. If it almost palpable. But I was also taken aback by the thought that I am closer in age now to the old man in the picture. Closer than the beautiful young woman with boundless energy. And so far removed from the little boy with the blond curls, holding his toy radio and delighting in the time with his grandfather.

In the accompanying note, My mother wrote, 

"You were a joy to him. You made him so happy".

In a few short years, he would be dead from cancer.

I'm grateful for the few years I had with him, yet sad that I really never got to know him. Not in any meaningful way that I can remember.

And it got me thinking…

My own daughter is now nearly the age of the young, spirited woman in the picture.

What if my time with the children she will have one day is cut short like that? What if I only have a few years with them? Only a few years to smother them with the Love and Affection that grandparents are supposed to show, and that children so richly deserve?

We tend to take every day for granted. We take it as a given that it will come, sure as the sun will rise.

It's not.

Time is cruel. In its inexorable progression, it separates us from our loved ones far too quickly. It takes away the sources of our deepest joy far sooner than we're ready for.

It's easy to think we have all the time in the world, while we get ourselves caught up in things that don't matter. That never matter mattered. And then be shocked when we are asked to give up the only things that ever did matter.

So focus on those things that matter. Cherish them and be grateful for them.

Be grateful for each day you get. For every day you get.

Wring every ounce of joy out of it.

Flood it with all the Love that you are capable of. And then add more.

And do everything you can to extend the precious time that you do get. Treat your body well. Treat yourself well. Build community and spread love and joy every second of every day.

Because making the most of the time we get with the ones we love, demonstrating that love, and being that love…

That is what life is all about.

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Hello dear friend, I'm Aaron! I write inspirational poems and stories of spiritual growth and personal development. I invite you to be a part of my journey of self-discovery and search for truth.

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Love,

Aaron

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