Thursday, January 20, 2011

Cherish the Moments


We have always been close. She is, aside from my husband, my best friend - the first one I call with good news, with the hard things, when I need wisdom, or just to talk. She always has time; she always has.

I drew the little rocking chair, the one with the colorful little patchwork quilt she made for Dad hanging over the back, up close to the armchair where she sits surrounded by the things she loves to do. We had two little baskets on the footstool between us - baskets filled with a rainbow assortment of tatting thread.

"Just look through them and take as many as you want. I'll never use them all up." It's the sort of thing she says often lately. She is beginning to give away some of her treasured things. "I want to give them to the ones I know will appreciate them." she says with her dear smile.

For my birthday she gave me a dozen of her little antique salt cellars to add to my collection. Little glass eye wash cups went to my daughter on her birthday. I carried a bag filled with yarn, ribbons, and an assortment of trinkets to the grandchildren on our last visit. We take these gifts of the heart reluctantly, knowing what they foretell.

So we bent our heads over the little baskets filled with thread and talked about nothing significant. We laughed and remembered, and in my mind's eye I stepped back and imprinted the moment on my heart. I want to cherish it. I don't want to ever forget how precious these moments are or get so busy I rush by them.

More and more often I greet the day with a pray of thanks that I have just this one. I don't know how many more there will be, but I have this one precious day. I want to live it well and gather its moments to my heart.

Blessings,
Linda

linking to Emily's imperfect prose


picture: me and Mom