We went to the beach yesterday.
What began as a short trip, with NO swimming suits! because it's too cold to swim!, turned into an hours long, underwear clad adventure. I was fully clothed, in case you were wondering.
What began as a quick way of getting the kids off my back about the beach turned into a perfectly beautiful and fun day.
We came home loaded down with treasures - rocks, a fish skeleton, beach plastic.
I'm so glad we went.
And Mikey, in his baggy gray underwear, looks like he needs some black socks and sandals to complete the look.
The Life of a Day
Tom Hennen
Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has
its own personality quirks which can easily be seen
if you look closely. But there are so few days as
compared to people, not to mention dogs, that it
would be surprising if a day were not a hundred
times more interesting than most people. But
usually they just pass, mostly unnoticed, unless
they are wildly nice, like autumn ones full of red
maple trees and hazy sunlight, or if they are grimly
awful ones in a winter blizzard that kills the lost
traveler and bunches of cattle. For some reason
we like to see days pass, even though most of us
claim we don't want to reach our last one for a
long time. We examine each day before us with
barely a glance and say, no, this isn't one I've been
looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for
the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will
start for real. Meanwhile, this day is going by per-
fectly well-adjusted, as some days are, with the
right amounts of sunlight and shade, and a light
breeze scented with a perfume made from the
mixture of fallen apples, corn stubble, dry oak
leaves, and the faint odor of last night's meander-
ing skunk.
its own personality quirks which can easily be seen
if you look closely. But there are so few days as
compared to people, not to mention dogs, that it
would be surprising if a day were not a hundred
times more interesting than most people. But
usually they just pass, mostly unnoticed, unless
they are wildly nice, like autumn ones full of red
maple trees and hazy sunlight, or if they are grimly
awful ones in a winter blizzard that kills the lost
traveler and bunches of cattle. For some reason
we like to see days pass, even though most of us
claim we don't want to reach our last one for a
long time. We examine each day before us with
barely a glance and say, no, this isn't one I've been
looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for
the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will
start for real. Meanwhile, this day is going by per-
fectly well-adjusted, as some days are, with the
right amounts of sunlight and shade, and a light
breeze scented with a perfume made from the
mixture of fallen apples, corn stubble, dry oak
leaves, and the faint odor of last night's meander-
ing skunk.
9 comments:
Kris, I so admire that about you - that you make room in your life ( in your kids' lives) for impromptu adventures. That picture of Mikey strolling the beach in his grey skivvies is fabulous. It is a perfect reminder to not do this:
"We examine each day before us with
barely a glance and say, no, this isn't one I've been
looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for
the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will
start for real."
Wonderful post!!
Guilty as charged. What a nice poem, I don't know the author.
Christ is risen!
How true these words are. Always thinking that my real life will begin, well, when? Seize the day. Make it count. So much all around us.
PS Just saw that you love Coke. It makes me happy in an absurd sort of way too. Still have my Moody mug which saw plenty of that beverage in its day.
So many ideas of little road trips, adventures pop into my head, then I excuse them away. "We have one car, & that's with Daddy at work." "I have to work" "We have school" "No time this week - another day!"
I admire your get-up-and-go-etiveness. If I can create such a word. Looks delightful!
~Michelle
Kris,
I just love this poem! Most especially I love the part about looking at each day as if it wasn't the day we were looking for and becoming bored while waiting for the next, which of course still won't be the ideal day. But the real ideal day, is of course, the one we have before us, with the underwear-clad kids, fishbone and plastic coast, and the too-cold water. All this glory coming to us through each imperfect day...
Joining in just now with Poetry Wednesday: hopefully not too late :-)
How very very true...a day is just a slice of time. We can choose to breath life into it or not. What a needful reminder...to embrace our moments and offer our children this life-gift through example. Beautiful!
I love this poem, your description of your day at the lake, and the way you tied them together. I have always felt that some of the most fun days are the ones that are unplanned and unfold unexpectedly into something interesting and memorable. It also seems so true that days have different personalities that are beyond our power to manipulate. You just have to receive them on their own terms.
What a beautiful day!
"For some reason
we like to see days pass, even though most of us claim we don't want to reach our last one for a long time."
Guilty as charged!
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