Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
There is no wealth but life. John Ruskin
Does it seem like we are locked in Groundhog Day? An old Johnny Mercer – Harold Arlen song tells us to ‘accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative, don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.’
Doesn’t it seem like Mr. In-Between is where we spend a lot of our life? Is this really a bad thing, isn’t this where real life is lived? Some people are either super happy or super sad and they don’t have in-between.
Is one of the problems we have in life finding balance? Balance can seem boring to those who embrace extremes and we have many people embracing the extreme. In our media-driven society, it is easy to compare our lives to someone else’s and find it wanting. We watch people put on a show and think their real life is so much more exciting, important, worthwhile, and impactful than our own.
As I write this I am listening to the radio talk about the number of young people not planning to have children. They prefer the life they can have without kids. I can see the appeal in that as they look at the drudgery, expense, and challenges parenthood entails. Most of what we accomplish in life even if we make it big at anything is the flavor of the day.
Some women work so hard to make good husbands that they never manage to make good wives. Anonymous
How many Presidents and Prime Ministers, even Kings, Queens, inventors, and authors do we know. They had their time in the spotlight, and time moves on. Family is what lasts; family is the contribution that impacts generations. How many of us may be prouder of our grandchildren than we are of ourselves? It seems to me as I wait to be a grandma that this is going to be a wonderful stage in my life made much more wonderful by the presence of grandchildren, and if I am lucky great-grandchildren.
Children are our tie to coming generations. If we don’t have children perhaps we are close enough to someone in the next generation as aunts, uncles, godparents, mentors, or friends.
When we can surround ourselves with loved ones our hearts are full and our lives are filled with laughter, funny stories are told, and escapades are recounted. This year we will have a small Christmas dinner as the kids will be spending time with the spouse and soon-to-be spouse’s families. We will all be together in the morning. Once our children get coupled up, there is another side pulling on them that gets consideration. We don’t have them all to ourselves anymore.
It is a great joy watching our children take their place, celebrate their milestones, and build their lives. As the sun sets on our generation it rises on another and round and round we go. The hopes and dreams of every generation are that life is better for the next. We have lived in such bounty and excess we may wonder how life could be better. We need to remember that during the dark ages they thought everything that could be known was known.
We don’t know what we don’t know, the exciting things ahead we may not be part of, or what we may glimpse before we go. Do many of us have a trust and control problem? If we trust others and give up control by trusting in the process of life, does life work out better?
Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. G. Michael Hopf
When no one around you seems to measure up, its time to check your yardstick. Bill Lemley
There is no security in life, there is only opportunity. Anonymous
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