You Just Never Know!

It has been many weeks since I have focussed on writing and taking time to do so. We have had a lot going on with a solid house deal, the purchase of a condo in Summerland that was in probate and dates for possession that did not align.

Through the chaos of moving, I was reminded that time is the most precious thing. The more birthdays we have, the more we realize this. Maybe it’s not even an age thing. Maybe it’s a maturity thing. None of us really knows for sure exactly how much time we’re going to be given, and so we need to learn to prioritize it well.

We need to value our time, and take it for the precious gift that it is. Not tomorrow. Not a year from now. Not when you graduate, or when you meet “the one,” or when you have enough money. Not when you finally have all your ducks in a row, or when all your dreams come true. But now.

We need to learn to say no, and we need to learn to have boundaries. We need to learn that some people just aren’t going to be our people, and we need to learn that things normally work out the way they are supposed to. We need to learn that there will be bumps and detours along the way, and sometimes nothing goes as planned. We need to learn that nobody really knows exactly what they’re doing and that everyone has a story to tell if we’d just care enough to listen.

We need to learn to really choose our friends well, and to invest in people who make our heart shine and our soul feel at peace. We need to learn to let the wrong ones go without feeling guilt, and we need to learn to forgive, because bitterness is such a waste.

We need to learn humility, because no matter what we have and what we achieve, we are no better and no worse than anyone else. We’re all just people doing the best we can. We all have a place in this big ole world and none of it really revolves around us.

We need to learn to try and fail and then get up and try again. We need to learn that even sadness and grief are part of being human and part of what makes a rainbow so beautiful is the fact that it doesn’t happen until after the storm.

We need to learn that returning hate for hate has never done any good, and some people are just angry and insecure and it has nothing to do with you. We move on and resolve to stay soft and pure and to keep putting our best out there anyway.

We need to learn to call our family a little more. And we need to learn that throwing on the bathing suit and jumping in the pool with your kids when they ask is more important than the cellulite because who cares about how we look when they giggle and their eyes light up like that? We need to learn to pause and to rest and to watch the sun as it sinks and paints the sky in strokes of watercolored brilliance.

It’s these kind of emotional feelings that happens all at once where we learn that time isn’t promised and life feels a lot shorter than you thought it would when you were young. We need to burn our favourite candles even when no company is coming over, and to give gifts even when there’s no occasion. We need to sip our coffee slowly and to savour that very last drop and that stuff is just stuff but people are irreplaceable. We need to learn that dishes can normally wait and that dance parties in the kitchen almost never can.

We need to learn to live, because that’s really all we can do: live well and love like crazy because time is a precious thing and no matter how hard we try, we don’t get any of it back. So spend it well, friends. Spend it well. Feel the things. Enjoy your people. Listen to good music and give thanks for it all. Because you just never know!