Savor the Moments

Face it, life can be tough sometimes.   And anyone that disagrees with me isn’t living.   It goes by too fast.  It’s overwhelming at times.  It can be frustrating.  It’s expensive, sometimes unfriendly and, unless you’re living in a closet, it’s an obstacle course of emotion.  Day-in and day-out.   Boring?    Sometimes.  Magical?  Always. 

Stop.  Look around you. Listen.  Accept.  It’s there.  Happiness.  Moments that you must learn to recognize. These are the moments in life that make up the memories that can  carry you through when the going gets tough…for the rest of your life.   Savor them.  Taste them. Take them into your soul. 

Have you ever heard a sound, caught a scent from your childhood, heard a phrase that brought someone from long ago into your thoughts, eaten something that tasted familiar?  These are all ‘memories’ that reside in your body, your heart, your soul.  When they visit, welcome them.  Savor them.  Feel the security, happiness, silliness, comfort that they bring to you.

Look to yourself for moments to savor.  There are plenty of self-made moments.  Maybe you’ve accomplished something in your own life that is worthy of a bit of self-congratulations, a pat on the back, a moment to breath in. Maybe it’s a new love or a particularly fetching glimpse of yourself in the morning mirror as you head out the door to face a cranky world.

Good news from friends warms me.  I savor these moments and let someone else’s joy sink in.  I shut my eyes, smile and let it start at my toes, up to the top of my head.  I smile. It’s filling.  It’s good. 

Over the past several weeks I’ve heard much good news from near and far and I have to say that I have savored each and every one of them. 

One friend called to say that after months of trying she and her husband are pregnant.  The bundle of joy is due to arrive in November.  Their lives will change forever in a way that no one can explain and they can’t begin to imagine.  I feel joy for them.  When I heard the news, I shut my eyes, thanked the universe for their blessing and savored that moment.

Another friend of mine who I’ve known for years called a couple of days later to say that she’d landed a terrific position teaching at a college here in So. Cal.  When she told me she was being considered for this position, I knew she had to get it - there just wasn’t any other outcome.  And yes, I shut my eyes and smiled when she told me it was hers.  She’s going to do an amazing job teaching and I think each and every one of the students in her class are blessed to be taught by her.  They just don’t know how lucky they are – yet.

This past week I learned that a co-worker of mine had been promoted to a terrific job that will take him from Phoenix to Atlanta, Georgia.  His voice on the phone was filled with excitement as he explained that he and his wife were sitting in the car, in Atlanta, outside the 20th house they’d looked at that weekend. All was happening so quickly.  He was giddy with excitement at the turn his life’s journey has taken him.  His wife and three boys are right along with him in his excitement.  I savored that moment.  He’s deserving of this good fortune.

Photos emailed to me of another friend’s new baby girl came at just the right moment.  All the frustration I was feeling toward a project I was working on melted away. I took the joy in that she must have felt when this cutie arrived. It changed the whole course of my day.

One of my dearest friends – after a long period of lack in her life – has blossomed in her work.  It makes my heart sing when I hear her voice, full of happiness, on the other end of the phone, telling me that she’s ‘so busy!.”   It just doesn’t get any better than this. 

And while my friends’ good fortune can conjure up the warmest of feelings, my son brings me moments that I’m sure all parents savor with their own kids in their own ways…

My son told me last night that I “absolutely MUST come” to his international dance show this morning at school.  His earnestness and excitement, along with the promise that he would ‘actually dance this time,’ made me smile.  Big.   Then I laughed. And then I told him that there is nowhere else in the world that I’d rather be than at his dance festival in the morning.  He won’t dance.  I know that.  But I will savor the moment that he asked me to be there, and I will savor the moment when he runs up to me, after the dance, and asks, “didn’t I do just great, mom!?“  Even though he just stood like a statue and stared at the crowd, I will say, ‘you did great.’

I will savor that moment for the rest of my life.