The simpler things.....

As I get older in life I'm learning things I wished I'd learned earlier in life.  Though I'm sure that phrase applies to most people, it resonated today, and has been for the last 24-48 hours.  Yesterday I stopped at a Rest Stop on I-95, just along the border of North Carolina and Virginia.  In the midst of my hustle and bustle something caught my eye.  Though the rest stop was full of cars, trucks, and suvs, from all along the east coast, one car caught my eye, not for how it looked, but what was inside.  (Oh thank you God for the subliminal message in the last sentence not realized until I typed the word "inside").  So amongst the tons of cargo on top of cars, amongst the parents rushing their kids to the community bathrooms that reek of harmful odors, amongst the backing out and pulling in of cars...I noticed this champagne gold sedan.  It was parked at a 30 degree angle like all the other cars.  But there was no luggage piled atop the car, or slightly raised behind the back see headrest.  As a matter of fact, there was no luggage in the back seat as I strolled by, headed to the trashcan to unload the mounds of trash accumulated in our car.

Seated quietly, with the engine turned off, was an elderly couple.  Nestled quietly in the front two seats their car.  Not a McDonalds bag in sight.  As a matter of fact, as I returned from the trash can I could distinctly see that they were both eating sandwiches out of tupperware containers.  It was as if they had planned that stop, or some variation of that stop all along.  It was as if where ever they were from, or where ever they were going was obsolete.  It was as if this elderly man and what I would imagine was his wife for sometime had learned something that I'm still learning today.

Though where you are going, and consequently where you came from matter in the grand scheme of things, what we do in each moment is where the value in life lies.  How we react, what we allow to affect us, how much time we take to focus on those moments are valuable and mean the most in life.  In essence, those moments become a summation of your life....my life.

So today I'm learning...that the simple things in life allow me to see what's important. The hand holds, the laughs, the look in your child's eyes, the quiet moments filled with boisterous love that echoes the halls of our hearts....

I'm growing, and learning.

Journey