MEMORY LAKE

 

I love swimming in the lake of my memories…closing my eyes and diving in headfirst…and bringing with me to the surface…memories submersed.

Take yesterday for instance…I dove in on a whim…and ended up, of all places, where memories of our granddaughter swim.

The memory of the day she was born…I remember the feeling of joy…

that we finally had a girl grand child…after the wonder of three boys.

The memory of the day when they all slept over on our floor…a memory I shall forever keep…not knowing where’d she be in the morning because she traveled in her sleep.

The memory of the day when she was older…just a couple of years later

when she found a comfortable place to sit…inside our refrigerator.

Yes, our granddaughter…who starts high school next year and is now almost as tall as me…I found the memory of the first time I bounced her on my knee.

As I dried myself off of these memories I found myself hoping one day she’ll understand…how important are my memories of when she’d run up and hold my hand….

As I stood upon the shoreline of my lake…I had to smile as I suspect…

there are moments in her lake…where our memories intersect.

And I’d like to think as we are swimming…in our memories…separately

that every now and then…for a brief moment…we share a memory.

For as wonderful as it is to make a memory…nothing can be compared….

to a memory that was made together…that forever will be shared

AFTER THE RAIN

 

I looked outside one morning as the day had just begun to see a grey sky overhead….dark clouds blotting out the sun.

Sadness seemed to blanket everything at the beginning of this day…the world seemed smaller…more confining as a storm was on its way.

Soon the sadness that had filled the clouds dropped to the Earth in rain…and I thought why the weather can change my mood…is difficult to explain.

Sometimes the rain makes me happy as I remember playing in it with Mom and Dad…other times when I am missing them…the raindrops make me sad.

The storm completed its visit around noon…and again…it’s difficult to explain how the sadness I was feeling…departed with the rain.

Once the skies cleared and I could see the sun would be shining for a while…it’s as if the sun took any sadness I was feeling…and replaced it with a smile.

What is this strange phenomenon I thought….what is the weather trying to say…perhaps that, in our life, there will be storms along the way.

And when a storm brings sadness…as some storms often do…It’s okay to be sad…knowing when the storm is through…

the clouds will break…the sun will shine…and happiness will return…

Perhaps this is the lesson the weather wants us all o learn.

That yes, we will experience storms…but eventually all storms wane…

And we must decide if our life is to be guided by the sun…

or determined by the rain.

THE RECEIPT

 

They walked into the bookstore…a young girl and her mother

and as they browsed throughout the store they held hands with one another.

I love the innocence of the young for wherever they chose to look

The little girl asked, “Mom can I have this puzzle…Mom, can I have this book.”

She asked for every book she saw…everything under the sun 

and after negotiating for a while…they narrowed it down to one.

When they arrived at the counter they were smiling…still holding hands with one another…they held in their other hands two books…one for the little girl…one for the mother.

I rang them up and I asked the mother, as I always do, when they were ready to go

if she wanted a receipt to which she smiled and answered…”No”.

But then the little girl spoke up…in a voice both innocent and sweet

“If it’s okay with you” she asked, “could I have the receipt?”

“Certainly.” I said as I watched the smiles on their faces unfurl

when I handed the two books to the mother and the receipt to the little girl.

What a wonderful moment for me…what a wonderful treat…

as I watched that little girl smile while repeating….“This is my very first receipt.”

The mother smiled at her daughter then glanced back and gave me a look

“She seems more excited about the receipt,” she said, 

“than she is about her book.”

And I had to smile as immediately my brain turned back all my internal clocks

to a time when we bought our son the perfect birthday present

and that present spent the day untouched while he played inside the box.

I hope some day this memory will stir…perhaps triggered by someone they meet…

of the time her mother bought her a book…but all she wanted was the receipt. 

STARDUST

 

Have you ever wondered about this…have you ever stopped to think…

Why, 20 times every minute…often without even noticing…we blink?

I don’t know the answer but I like to think it has to do with Jupiter and Mars…yes, I think the reason that we blink can be found up in the stars.

When I gaze up at a night filled with stars…I am, every time, enthralled…seeing the vastness of the universe…I can’t help but feel small.

For I know what I am seeing…the small part in which I’m immersed…is but a tiny fraction of the total universe.

And then I remember in high school how my science teacher discussed that 93% of us…is created from stardust.

When I think how the stardust coursing through our veins links us to the universe…and the universe to us all…suddenly, as I continue to gaze up…I no longer feel small.

I feel connected to the universe…I mean…how lucky can I be that stardust from the heavens has found it’s way to me?

And when I see another person…another life…be they old or young…or new…I smile and whisper to myself…I’m glad the stardust found you too.

It is our shared stardust that not only links your life to mine…but reminds us individually…and together…it is our destiny to shine.

I hope by now the reason that we blink will come as no surprise 

for every time we blink…we’re gathering stardust in our eyes.

THE BEAUTY OF A CLOUD

 

A light rain began falling this morning and when I looked up much to my surprise I saw a small cloud just above me with tears falling from her eyes.

“What’s the matter little cloud?” I asked as she floated in the sky. 

“On a beautiful morning such as this…what could make you cry?”

“It’s funny you should say beautiful.” The little cloud answered. 

“And I’m not sure you’ll understand but I see so much beauty every day as I drift across the land.”

“I see mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers.  I see oceans and the sea.

The animals, the flowers and the people…all look so beautiful to me.”

“I see beauty in every blade of grass and every drop of morning dew but how often I have wondered…if I am beautiful too.”

“Oh little cloud,” I said to her, “I can see you are compassionate…kind and sweet and dutiful…and the fact that you see beauty everywhere…why…that’s what makes you beautiful.”

“I can’t speak for all of nature…I can only speak for me but I have often thought what makes something beautiful is all the beauty you cannot see.”

“Many people look to the outside of a person and think that’s where their beauty begins, but I can tell you from experience…true beauty lies within.”

“I think I can help you little cloud.” I said. “All you need do is follow me.”

Then I took her down to the shore and as she hovered over the sea…

I said, “Perhaps today is the day we set your beauty free.

Look down into the water…into your soul..and tell me what you see.”

The little cloud looked into the water and smiled as she shook her fluffy head.

Then a tear fell from her eye as she sighed…”I am beautiful!” She said.

“Today was your lucky day!” I whispered to myself as I waved to that little cloud from afar…”for many people live their entire lives not knowing how beautiful they are”.

THANK YOU DOCTOR

 

Happy birthday and thank you Theodor Geisel…for it’s so easy to deduce

all the things you helped to teach us…not as Theodor…but Dr. Seuss.

You taught us how to count…at least to the number two

and in the same book you taught us about the color red…and the color blue.

Your Sam I am taught us we can eat ham with green eggs…if we please

and your Lorax…about our environment and the importance of our trees.

Thanks to your Cat in the hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 for teaching us without a doubt…all the things we can do at home…when our mother is out.

Your Horton taught us patience…when on a promise to Mayzie he wouldn’t renege…as he sat and he sat and he sat until he hatched her egg.

Your Grinch taught us we can preserver through our trials and our woe…

that even when our heart has hardened…it can soften…it can grow.

And finally, on a personal level…while I have the time

thanks for all the children besides me you taught to appreciate the rhyme.

Yes, thank you Mr. Geisel…for being a great Dr. Seuss

For showing us how imagination works…once we turn it loose.

You’ve helped us all in many ways…ways you’ll never know…

and with the books you created by our side…

oh the places we will go.

HER HERO

 

When she was young her parents raised her (for back then this was the plan) that if she needed a hero in her life…she’d have to find herself a man.

But she grew up to be an independent thinker…to be secure and strong and wise…so it did not take her long for a new plan to devise.

And though it hasn’t always been easy (she would be the first one to proclaim)…whenever she’s needed a hero in her life…then a hero she became.

And she is confident whenever her future turns distressing, 

maddening or glum…

if at that time she needs a hero…

then a hero she will become.