Posts
I spent this past weekend visiting my family. We all have family. Some families are big and expansive, others are smaller and more compact. We generally don’t get to pick our family. They are the ones we come with, even the ones we marry into. I suppose mine is average if such a thing is possible.
The reason I am writing about this today is the juxtaposition between birth and death, the beginning and the end, alpha and omega. I have a grandson just 6 months into his life and my father at 80 slowly nearing the end of his.
One happy and joyful being passed from relative to relative, played with and playing, rolling over and discovering a whole new world.
The other, well, hardly moving or speaking.
2 journeys…beginning and ending and beginning again. Most of us can’t remember our first 3 or 4 years. My father can’t really remember these last few years either. He will be gone at some time in the near future. My grandson has been born at a time when his life span is expected to exceed 100 years to parents that are already concerned about his nutritional intake.
My father was the first of his family to graduate from college. It was quite an accomplishment and one that set me on the path to a college education as it has my children and now my grandchild. As a matter of fact he already has a college fund.
My father’s journey has been long and in many ways tiring. He and my mother raised 4 boys and have generously given to all of us and all of their grandchildren. Now they are great grandchildren to cherish.
My family is not close geographically. We come together infrequently and enjoy the time we have. My parents raised their children to be independent and able to enjoy lives we built. We were very fortunate to have been born at the time we were born and to the people who raised us. I hope my children and grandchildren have the same good fortune. I hope my father realizes the fantastic job he and my mother did in providing the life they did for me and my brothers. And I hope our newest member gets all of that and more.
I feel sad in seeing my father in the sunset of his life but I hold dear of the memories of strength, integrity, and perseverance he provided. I feel happy in my grandson’s prospect and hope to give him the same example my father gave me.
This shifting of time, this beginning and ending of times is all part of the process we all experience. It is one of the things that all of us humans get to do in some way or another.
Enjoy the process on both ends and in the middle. Life is about what happens in the dash…the dash between your date of birth and date of death.
Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com
Follow me at:
Twitter --- http://m.twitter.com/jmariotti
FaceBook --- John Mariotti
Blog Spots…John Mariotti
http://sunday-stories.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment