Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Life Is a Journey

We go through life making plans, dreaming dreams, searching for truth, and existing through countless days, weeks, and years of mundane everyday existence. We work, we play, love, argue, and overcome our disappointments.

That’s the way life goes—on and on, where it stops, nobody knows. One of life’s biggest blessings is that we don’t know what the future holds in store for us.

 

We couldn’t enjoy the present if we worried too much about the future. Sometimes I marvel at how some people overcome adversity to see the rainbow while it is still raining. One of my distant cousins recently found out that the cancer she had fought so valiantly was going to win the fight. She began to post some of her memories online as short little quips. She brought laughter to her friends and family with her stories and family photos. It was a thoughtful gift to leave us.

 

Living life to the fullest during trying times can be one of the biggest hurdles we will ever have to jump. Throughout the world, lives have been altered as we waded our way through the murky times of the pandemic. In this world of free and overabundant information and misinformation, we are divided into alternate universes. People have chosen a side and refuse to budge. Our society has forgotten how to pull together to reach a common goal.

 

I looked through decades of family pictures to post a memorial for my brother-in-law who died from Covid. As I looked through the photos, I smiled and I cried. Our family has suffered great loss during the past two years. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart attack, Covid, and even a broken heart has taken our loved ones from us.

 

I have made several video tributes during the past two years. Most of the time, I find enough photos in my digital files. Sometimes, I look through old albums and boxes of pictures to grab a few old photos to scan. This was the first time I went through all of them.

 

I had to smile when I saw a photo of me when I was nine years old. I have the same exact hair-do now as I had then! I smiled bigger when I saw a photo of Jim on top of our car. We had been arguing, and he jumped on the top of the car and said he wouldn’t come down until I said I loved him. I hopped out of the car and took his photo. There it is in the album, a reminder of Jim’s quirky personality.

 

A few nights ago, I struggled with my alternative personality. It started with the photos and continued when I went outside to walk the dog. The weather was unseasonably mild so I breathed in the fresh air. I looked up into a universe of twinkling stars and a bright, yellow moon. It made me sad and nostalgic when I thought about people and places I will never see again in my lifetime. The feeling persisted throughout the night and this morning. I felt like jumping in my car and taking off for parts unknown. I wanted to forget the sorrow and the mountain of things I should be doing.

 

Instead, I drank some coffee and played a game on my Kindle. After breakfast, I moved my PC to my office downstairs. It felt good to be back in my space after a year away from it.

 

Sometimes we have to glance over our shoulder at our past in order to embrace the present and the future. Life can be complicated and sometimes tedious. Life can also be joyous and fulfilling. Life is a journey, and we need to keep moving forward until we reach the destination.

 

Copyright © February 2022 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

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