Collecting Eggs
Sometimes it's easy to forget what's important in the day-to-day. I was up until 1am last night - just getting "things" done. My son asked what things I was doing after I put him to bed and honestly, it wasn't work. It was just "life" things. I need to return something to Amazon. I need to check us in for our cruise (find passports, credit cards, documents, refresh the browser 17 times because it keeps freezing), I need to work on a projected budget for a board I'm on, I needed to text a friend who's hurting so we can get together for coffee today, change the kitty litter, clean the kitchen, oh and crap, I haven't started reading my book club book yet and we meet next week......etc etc etc. Life piles on top of us sometimes and we get so bogged down in the day-to-day. Just make it through today because maybe tomorrow we can rest. Just check one more thing off the to-do list so we can find some peace. Just accomplish one more goal so we can feel successful. I deal with those things regularly - balancing the busy with the mindful. Getting s*** done with putting myself first. Being productive with having fun.
This morning, I just happened upon this photo as I was cleaning out my email inbox. My dad emailed it to me in 2010 (yes, I'm one of those people with my emails - organized, saved, and no more than 100 in my inbox at any time lol). This is my Papa. Gilbert Gunn, my great-grandfather. He & Big Mama (Gladys Gunn) were humble farmers with chickens, cows, and various crops. I remember these hot summer mornings with Papa so well - we would get up super early. Big Mama got up at 4am and started biscuits from scratch using lard from the bucket under the sink, while Papa sat at the tiny kitchen table, reading from the Bible with his deep voice. I would wake up to the sound of his voice, booming even in the back of the house. And some mornings, Papa and would come scoop me up and we'd go out and feed the chickens together. He used an old metal pot and filled it with grain and spread it out everywhere after he let the chickens out of the coop. Then, it was a real treasure hunt adventure as we poked around and looked for any eggs that were laid since the previous day. A real egg hunt, except I got to do it almost every morning on my summer trips.
I still have one of Papa's jackets, hanging in my closet. There's a buckeye in one pocket and a piece of twine in the other. No doubt the twine was to be reused for something around the farm, and the buckeye - a simple treasure he picked up and thought to save.
Seeing this picture this morning was a stark reminder of the fullness of my life. I'm not surviving every day to live to the next, only to survive that one for the day after. Today is a whole day in and of itself. Today is a day to *live*. Today is a day that may hold nothing big, no achievements, no sparkles. Today may be the last day you live before something big happens and changes it forever. Today may be forgotten in the long run. But today deserves it's own acknowledgement. Today exists for a reason, and you in it.
I don't own any chickens, and I'm glad I can get eggs from a local farmer (Whippoorwill Farms SC) without having to raise them myself. But seeing this picture this morning stopped me in my tracks. I want to remember the simple parts of the day because without us knowing it, they somehow become the most important
