When I was a kid, I walked to my elementary school very happy… I loved the rain… I loved the crossing guard… I loved new pencils… I loved my friends… I loved the teachers… They were sweet and smart and kind… I loved learning something new… I loved playing dodge ball… I loved the last day where the teachers surprised us with a trip to the Big and Little store for ice cream cones… I loved our principal…He even knew my name. I loved his secretary. She was bright and smart and called my mother at work once, to tell her my skirt ripped and I needed to go home to change clothes. I loved lunch and the women that worked there. I loved standing in line. Then I got a little bit older and just got scared…. I could not figure out how to act with the other kids. I wasn’t as popular…I didn’t have the right clothes… I did poorly in school and the teachers weren’t so nice anymore. The librarians at the junior high seemed angrier than the amazing librarian I knew in elementary school… that seemed unreal, she was so kind. I remember her eyes lighting up when I brought her daffodils from our garden. I managed to graduate high school by the skin of my teeth. Almost 40 years have gone by…
I still live near my elementary school, and I love the rain… I love new pencils… I love my friends… I love learning something new. I still go to the Big and Little store… only I buy a V-8 instead of ice cream. I love lunch, especially with a friend or two. I love the librarians that greet me kindly every time I walk in at our local library. I love the lady at the grocery store who makes it her mission to tease me every time I walk in. I love to sing. I love to dance. I love when my kitchen is clean… Once you pass the “needing to impress” years, you love life again… You start to appreciate the same stuff from your childhood. You take less for granted because you know your days on this earth are numbered. You set up better boundaries so the critical folk you thought you should put up with are out of your life. You giggle at other’s imperfections because you know you have the same issues in one form or another… You have fun as a child doing everything….You get mad at your friends, then two minutes later, you walk hand in hand.
A favorite Leonard Cohen quote: "Life became a lot easier when I stopped trying to win."
ReplyDeleteAnd -
a few days ago the quote on the day's reading from the yoga meditation book I am in:
"Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance. If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe."
Look at the most recent post on my friend Heidi's blog, too. It's listed down the side of my blog page (as is yours) - It began with an elephant. Get the exact address from my blog.