Shared Memories

We hosted a small family gathering today.  I noticed a couple of things...

I noticed how small our family is.  At my age, so many family members are passed, are hospitalized, or have moved away.  It made me think about what our summer family gathering used to be like.  I loved them!  I got to see so many people that I only got to enjoy once a year.  Then, the crowd was 40-50 people.  Today, it was 15.

I noticed how the older my family members get, the more they like to share old stories and memories.  I found it comfortable to be one of the sharers today, making sure that my nieces felt like they knew me when I was just 30-months old.  The memories that my uncle and father had to share were stories that I have never heard before.  They were so real.  They were of a different era.  They were stories that I wished that I knew sooner because I would have had so many more and different connections with them.  Their childhoods were so different, but yet similar to mine.  I can say the same for my life as it compares to my nieces'.

I noticed how I felt less like a kid, or simply part of the crowd.  I felt as though I was a part of the foundation and the glue that holds what is left of the family.

These are happy-sad times.  Happy that I get to have these experiences with the people I love as I get older.  Sad that so many have left us and so much time has passed.

Maybe I was NOT mindful when I was younger and was not able to appreciate the wonderful moments that still exist, but the awareness and mindfulness that I have now allows me to savor each moment as if they were droplets in a rainstorm.  One. At. A. Time.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites