Everyday Ordinary
By the way – today is Memorial Day
One day, you’ll do something for the last time – only you won’t realize it’s the last time.
The last time your father picks you up.
The last time you hug your mother.
The last time you kiss your high school sweetheart.
The last time you go on a night ride with your best friend.
The last time you see your “friends for life”.
You won’t know it’s the last time. There’s nothing special about the moment – an ordinary unspecial moment of life.
Just like any other day; just like so many other moments.
Until it isn’t.
The last meal you eat at your favorite restaurant before it closes.
That time came for me today – but I knew it was coming.
Nothing special – but perhaps such an insignificant, unimportant event shouldn’t have meaning.
Would it be better if I hadn’t known ahead of time?
The time you say “See you later” … and later never comes.
Those everyday ordinary moments.
The times you put off ’til tomorrow … or next week.
The friends you meant to see; the places you wanted to visit.
One day, they’re ordinary.
The next day, they’re gone.
I like how they sing it:
Old Crow Medicine Show – Miles Away (Official Video) (Feat. Willie Watson)
DT, this fits rather well with my most recent poem posted at Pondering…….
You do have your own poetic way with words 🙂
True. A few years ago I took a picture from a WV mountaintop overlooking the Kanawha River driving away from my Uncle’s house. Drove past that spot 100 times and when I took that picture I wondered if it would be the last time I passed that way. It was not my last but I keep that picture on my phone.
I’m 60 therefore I’ve hit the fourth quarter. Time is short. What else do I want to do in this lifetime? Quite a bit, therefore I plan and schedule my days with intent to accomplish what I want to do. It is go time.
EXACTLY! I am 81 this year. Do my physical exercises every other day. Plan my responses to particular events, shop and cook our meals and plan for the future. DH and I are lucky to be in good health. I am grateful.
Thoughts coming from the heart and transformed into words on a page are most often poetic. This was a very moving and poetic little essay, DT.
The most ordinary things in life become so precious as we age. We know we can take nothing for granted. This is especially true after the first time you lose someone very close and important to you.
Even after receiving news of their own impending death many people just want to continue their normal routines. They serve as a kind of soothing balm in the face of great uncertainty.