Life

You know, the older I get, the more that I realize just how very short life is. You blink an eye and your children are grown. You blink an eye and you are already twenty-nine years into a wonderful, forever marriage. You blink an eye and your friends start leaving you. So, I decided the other day that the right way to go though life is like a small child, wide-eyed with wonder at all there is around you.

Don’t blink! You’ll miss something important if you don’t watch out! When my son was little, I used to actually call him my little “Wide-Eyed Wonder,” because he was always asking the “question of the day” as we liked to call it. Sometimes, the answer to the questions took some collaboration between his Daddy and me, to come up with a good answer. But, he was always wanting to know more, wanting to see more, and now, he is all grown up. He is a wonderful, intelligent, very talented artist. I call him my “Man-Child”, because he never lost that trait of open mindedness, and caring for other people. It has carried him a long, long way into adulthood.

Our daughter gave us another side of the childlike charm. She was the empathizer (a lot like her mom). She takes on the cares of everyone else’s worlds, even when her own is falling apart. She can look at me and see straight into my soul and read my very thoughts. She is like that with everyone. It is a gift she brought into this world with her. She is a fighter, too, in a good way. She has struggled all her life with her disabilities and finally overcome them through sheer determination and will.

But, my point is this, if there is one thing that I have learned through the years and with the help of my children, my husband, and my friends, it is to live in the moment. Be the best you can be in this moment, and always be wide-eyed and open minded to the good things life has to offer. If you learn to do this little thing, you can wake up when you are fifty (and holding) and be at peace with yourself, knowing that you’ve done the best you could do. It took me years to learn that one little lesson. But, I did learn it and I’m a happier person for it. You can be too. Just remember to cast your wishes skyward; you never know what might come true for you...

Chauchetta D.