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Monday, May 09, 2011

On beginnings

Quick editorial note: I'm going to continue to share Quote of the Day (QOTD) entries, as I like the small zing of thoughtfulness they add to the blog. I am going to drop the "QOTD #" naming convention from the title, however, as I suspect the static title makes things look a little more formal than I'd like. Please let me know what you think. Onward...

As I ponder the meaning of my finishing up one year on the planet and beginning another (yesterday was my birthday...my wife outed me here...Facebook did so here), I find myself reflecting on the preciousness of time. I spent a good chunk of the day simply spending time with my wife, with our kids, with our friends. We ran errands, had a BBQ for dinner, sat around and talked. The phone rang regularly with calls from folks near and far, and my BlackBerry chirped with a similar flow of messaging and social media-borne goodness. I was thankful to be in the middle of it all, that I was able to have a day like this, that I had, and have, a life filled with more than I feel I truly deserve.

Every so often, I'd stop myself in the middle of whatever I was doing, and I just listened. To the kids playing with their friends in the house, to my wife chatting with her mom on the phone, to the dog having a playdate with his buddy. I tried to record not just the sounds, but the feeling of the sounds, the warmth with which they filled the space, and my head. It was a very comforting thing to do.

It was just the kind of day that reminds me why life is fundamentally good, why I need to learn in the coming year to capture the richness of it all just a little bit better.
"Live each day as if your life had just begun." Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
And so I shall. Will you?

7 comments:

  1. It would be wonderful if we could all leave our baggage behind each morning, and start anew. But, so hard to do!

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  2. Wishing you a very Happy Belated Birthday! Enjoy!

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  3. The soundtrack of supper on the deck last night included a mockingbird going through its repertoire.
    I'd like to be able to sing like a bird each day and only remember the good from the past.

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  4. Happy birthday! Hope it was great!

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  5. Belated Happy Birthday here, Carmi! Great post as well!!

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  6. Gimme back them numbers! I wanna catch you botch 'em up!
    Jokes aside, I liked the numberings better.
    Happy Birthday belated, I was busy answering an exam on that day. :D

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