If you use your eyes and ears, there's reminders throughout your week that life's short and you don't call all the shots. A sense of gratitude and a sense of joy needs to be more prevalent.......Be where your feet are. Enjoy the moment. There'll be a day where there won't be another day.
I write on the eve of what promises to be another busy week filled with the stuff Life says I have to do. Another five days in my career as an educator, three-and-a-half spent teaching while attending workshops the other day-and-a-half. Another five days as a parent of three, all of whom are in various stages of sickness while trying to balance school and activities. For two evenings I will be a volleyball fan, making one road trip to do so; the evening between I will be on the road again to attend a class as a student. And just for giggles it's Homecoming Week in my district, meaning Friday night will be lost to a football game I have very little interest in. Oh, hold on - Saturday will find me in two different towns watching two different daughters playing in two different volleyball tournaments. Ain't life grand?
The world of sports reminded us today that, while life may not always be grand, we had better find ways to cherish it before we lose it. The words at the top of this blog were spoken this morning by Clint Hurdle, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who was talking about the death of Jose Fernandez, pitcher for the Miami Marlins. Killed in a boating accident during the night, Fernandez's death was THE story in sports prior to noon, pushing aside yesterday's college football news and today's NFL previews. "So young" (24 years old), "so full of life", "so tragic" were among the phrases that were repeated by those who spoke of him...which is why Mr. Hurdle's comments caught my attention. More philosophical in tone, Mr. Hurdle found a way to turn tragedy into lesson, loss into gain.
This evening Arnold Palmer died, and the sports world grieves again. The sadness over this death is different, though - Palmer was 87, and despite not yet hearing an official cause of death I'm guessing he died from being 87. Rather than "shocking" or "sudden", his death is being described as sad but not unexpected, unfortunate but not devastating. He found success in sports, found ways to stay relevant after sports, and by all accounts made his way through a long life as a high-quality human being. I have to believe his final moments were filled with satisfaction for his life well-lived.
Between the sudden death of a youngster and the passing of an icon life kept moving today. As it does every day. Today was bookended by two deaths that were nearly as opposite as deaths could be, and from this oddity a lesson emerges: live. We get caught up in the cyclone of our busy days and our crazy weeks, we look ahead to when the madness might subside, we think back to when times were simpler, and all the while we forget to do one thing: live. Mr. Hurdle's words - "Be where your feet are." - are an eloquent directive to do one thing every day: live.
Day one in life arrived without our input, and life will be content to ignore our wishes about the final day, too. The days between the first and last are ours....so take control of them. Live each day, not necessarily like it's your last, but maybe like it's.......yours. We may not get to call all the shots but we don't have to let all the shots control us. Every day will have flowers worth smelling - find them. Every day will contain some sunshine - soak it up. Every day will send storm clouds towards all of us - endure them, learn from them, be strengthened by them. They will make the sunshine warmer, the flowers sweeter.
I used the phrase "have to do" when describing the week ahead of me. I chose those words for the beginning so I could change them now at the end. My week will be busy, yes, but not with things I have to do. My week will be filled with life, and I will live it. I think. I hope. In the words of the late, great Kirby Puckett - "Tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." Weeks have disappeared on me....years have slipped away....my tomorrows have dwindled. But this week....this week I'm going to be where my feet are. Day by day I'm going to teach, I'm going to learn, I'm going to cheer, I'm going to parent, I'm going to care. I'm not going to get through this week; I will live this week.
Will you?
Day one in life arrived without our input, and life will be content to ignore our wishes about the final day, too. The days between the first and last are ours....so take control of them. Live each day, not necessarily like it's your last, but maybe like it's.......yours. We may not get to call all the shots but we don't have to let all the shots control us. Every day will have flowers worth smelling - find them. Every day will contain some sunshine - soak it up. Every day will send storm clouds towards all of us - endure them, learn from them, be strengthened by them. They will make the sunshine warmer, the flowers sweeter.
I used the phrase "have to do" when describing the week ahead of me. I chose those words for the beginning so I could change them now at the end. My week will be busy, yes, but not with things I have to do. My week will be filled with life, and I will live it. I think. I hope. In the words of the late, great Kirby Puckett - "Tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." Weeks have disappeared on me....years have slipped away....my tomorrows have dwindled. But this week....this week I'm going to be where my feet are. Day by day I'm going to teach, I'm going to learn, I'm going to cheer, I'm going to parent, I'm going to care. I'm not going to get through this week; I will live this week.
Will you?
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