Last Days, First Days
Today is the last day Little One is in elementary school, which means it’s also the last day I’ll do bus stop duty. It’s not cool to have Mom pick you up from the bus stop in Middle School. (*Sniff!*) It’s also the last day I’m 39, so I’m feeling a whole lot of “last days” piled on me all at once.
I was flipping through some of my Flickr pictures and found this from earlier this year, titled “Sometimes the Picture is Not About the Picture.” I’ll include what I wrote underneath:
This afternoon I picked up my Teen from band practice and we made a surprise stop at McDonalds. We giggled in the car and snarfed down French fries and milkshakes while we watched for a break in rush hour traffic that seemed like it would never come.
One driver stopped and held up the traffic behind him for ages until we had the break we needed to cross to his lane. I felt the sun on my face, the company of a kid I love beside me and the kindness of a stranger and told her, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
She looked at her fast food and said, “Really? This is the high point?” We paused and giggled, and I told her yeah, this is pretty much it.
I hope she understood. The giggles in the car? It really doesn’t get any better than that.
I hope someday years from now, I’ll find this picture, and instead of seeing French fries, I’ll hear giggles.
***
It didn’t take years for me to find the picture and remember the giggles. A day full of “last things” is not just about last things — it’s also about lots of new things. Today I’m appreciating what the years have already brought me, tomorrow I’ll be looking forward to what comes next.
Here’s hoping my next 40 years are full of lots of giggles - and French fries!
June 6th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Your insight is downright amazing. Too often we think too hard when the things that matter most in life are right there in front of our face — and all we had to do was slow down and we’d have enjoyed them.