Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Picking Wildflowers

May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day.

Native American Proverb


It's a lovely morning.  The oppressive heat and humidity are gone, and the air has a lovely, fresh feel to it. The rains came yesterday and washed everything away. This is the kind of morning that I yearn to play hookey and go running through the fields and meadows as I did when I was in my youth, picking wildflowers for my grandma. Life was so carefree back then. Who even thought of what the future would bring?  It seemed that childhood would go on forever.

My grandma was older than most of the grandmother's I knew.  She was older than grandpa by 11 years.  She didn't get married until she was 35, had my uncle at 37, my aunt at 42, and my mom when she was 46. Although women today think nothing of having a child in their late 30's, early 40's, back then it was nearly unheard of. My mom was born in 1926. Even when I was of childbearing age, I remember hearing that one should have babies no later than their mid-30's.  She was such a special lady.

By the time my memories began she was already in her 60's, but she was always there for me, and she still is. I feel her presence often.  She only had three grandchildren, and I was the only girl, so that made me special, but she also knew well of the problems at home and was always there to show me the love that my parents didn't know how to give me.  

Oh, how easy it has become for my mind to go wondering. How easy it has become for me to remember!!  They say as we get older, our memories of our youth become sharper.  But, I tend to believe it is not all due to aging. When we are young, we tend to live our lives in the fast lane and often find ourselves lacking in time; we are far too busy with our daily lives to take time to remember.  Bills must be paid and food must be brought to the table.  We have children of our to raise, so we tend to put our previous lives on the backburner.  Not that we ever forget our loved ones.  they are always in our hearts.  It's the little memories like picking wildflowers we don't seem to have time for.  Yes,  I think these memories were always there, but can only come to the surface when we begin to slow down and take the time and allow ourselves to listen to them.  

"Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart." 

Anonymous

3 comments:

  1. I remember when I was a young child it seemed like even a weekend lasted so long, but now that I've become older I wonder what happens to my weekends that I'll have off from work, because now, at times, they seem to fly by like that of a flash of lightening.

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  2. Your thoughts on memory remind me that, as I age, I tend to recall certain times in my life with particular clarity - I first noticed this in my twenties, when suddenly I could remember my quite early childhood with remarkable detail; now, forty years later, I am finding it easy to recall events and images of twenty years ago, whereas a few years ago those memories were murky. Something to ponder . . .

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