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

Time after Time

Quote:  When you realize what the words mean, and you can feel every struggle of the story in your own life... years may fall, or at the very least, you'll feel that ache in the center of your being, for someone who you loved ever so deeply, but just could never get on the same page with... living, loving but never wholly in sync... your time is after their time, or vice versa and so you finally let go and what remains are the memories that are fading and you wish by some miracle you could go back again...

Today is really quiet....both inside and out.  I woke up this morning mentally prepared to present my work over the past 5 months to my client.  Presentation was in queue, Demos ready, and a pocket full of answers for questions yet unasked.  A brief stop by Starbucks before arriving to a place I yearned to work for even as a child.  Though there are no shuttles taking off from here I still feel some sense of life accomplishment showing up after my daily hour drive.  As I sat down at my desk I gaze upon two books that bear ironic symbolism.  The first, on the right, is a book called "The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time" with a background arrow unintentionally pointed to the book on the left...entitled...When God Winks at You.  

As I log on and begin to prepare for the day I see that my presentation has been moved to tomorrow.  My initial thought was that of frustration and wishing that things would have aligned better.  But as I'm learning in this life I must continue to turn frustration into moments of peace.  Removing myself from that lack of control, which is what I really feel frustration is.  So....with no presentation today I've created a peace moment both inside and out.  As the movie Brown Sugar plays in my headphones, I'm reminded of all the good things that have happened in my life and how I am extremely thankful that God gave me a very vivid imagination which helps me through any circumstance in life.  I don't often offer advice to anyone, but in this case I'm offering it to myself if I end up reading this post years from now I can relate better to my feelings today.  I firmly believe that God has granted me the ability to leverage my imagination concerning where I want to be in life, regardless of whereI I currently am in life.  I often struggle with deciding if it's naivety or if it's having the ability to stand firm on what I am doing and realizing that God has a purpose for this moment in my life.  I may not understand it at all, but there is purpose beyond the veil.  

Headed back to the grind session....be back soon

Journey