Thursday, March 4, 2010

Good times

Time has been forcing itself on me lately with reflections on how brief 'the old ol' days' really are.

Like, the grocery store that some friends used to drive out of the neighbourhood to get to because it just stocked better stuff? I remember that as a whole period in my life - the days before they moved away, when we met up every weekend and ate really delicious takes-time-to-prepare foodie things. We saw the Blue Jays win the World Series together.

I passed that grocery store the other day without thinking much about it. It lost its cachet years ago, which means that happy time was years before that, and now that I think of it - it lasted about two years, tops.

This is true for a lot of my past, and it's suddenly struck me that pattern will continue with the happy times I enjoy now, and the ones I'll enjoy in the future. Life comes in stages, like it or not, and good times are often cut off by bad ones, as when friends move away.

But the other thing I noticed is that other good times replaced those ones. Kind of like water that finds its way around obstacles to reach the next lowest point, we seem to be able to find other ways to enjoy life, don't we. And I for one am going to start being more mindful about doing that, because who knows how long this particular patch of good will last?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very profound. I don't know how old you are, but this is something that has taken me such a long time to learn. I've finally found a way to fight the urge to hold on to yesterday, because I miss today, which is every bit as thrilling as yesterday, if even in a different way.

Mary Keenan said...

I think we're the same age, Angela - maybe this is just the magic time when we figure this one out!

TexNan said...

You say it beautifully, Maire. I don't know that I realized it as young as you are. Maybe some of us take longer to come into our own. ;^)

Sally Anne said...

Oh, so true Mary. Have you read The Happiness Project ? I have it on audio and am savoring a chapter now and again.

Mary Keenan said...

I haven't, Sally Anne, but I will look it up right now - thanks for that!