As we age, we learn and grow. There are opportunities for lessons through out our life the older we get. Unfortunately many of these lessons stem from the loss of someone or something.
When dealing with the passing of those close to us, it’s definitely one of the most traumatic and emotional experience we all face at some point in our lives. It’s not the love what’s hurt, it’s the mess of not knowing where to send your love after a loss. Almost 4 years later, life is somewhat “normal” for our family. And somewhat “normal” is okay. Trust me, it is.
In my searched for meaning to grief, I have unearthed a lesson that attached together to become a life raft (metaphor) and if you are reading this you are welcome to hop on.
The reality is NO amount of time spent with a love one is ever enough. Time is ticking away for all of us. Time is going to pass by no matter what and how much of that time we probably spent on things that are not important to us. The thing is, we must be inspired and empowered to be intentional about how we spend our time and who we spent it with. We get to create how we are spending our time over the course of our life and it can be inspiring or depressing because how we spend our time is what our life is all about. We get to choose!
I bet we can name our favourite memories with people who we spent a ton of time with that we don’t see anymore and in reality we missed them. We missed the people we laugh the hardest with and the people who has the biggest impact in our life. Missing someone is the price we pay for loving them. The reality is we might not remember the names of all the people we met in life but we remember how those people makes us feel.
As Maya Angelou summed it up perfectly in her quote …. "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you make them feel”
The reality is, life is short, limited and precious. Sometimes, it’s not easy to find the time to spend with someone we love and cherished. We can blame it on busyness, our fast-paced culture, demanding jobs, technology that consumes our time or whatever that reason may be, the truth is that busyness will not stop until we decide to slow down and reconnect with the people and things that matters most to us.
Many times, it is our actions, not just our words that really speak what our heart feels. Our family, and friends are important. So, love them unconditionally. Leave sweet memories behind, before we may never see them again on earth. The harsh truth of life is, ‘we never know.’ We never know when things will change, when great opportunities will pass and when everything we take for granted may be taken away. We do not know when later will be too late.
Keep in mind spending time with love ones isn’t about being or seeming perfect - it’s about enjoying what’s important to us in life. Carving out even as little as 15 minutes to spend with a love one (or that minimum of 35) can make all the difference. While it may seem brief, it’s more that enough time to make memory.
R.I.P my lunar sister.
Reem you are reflective, funny, direct and soulful. I will always cherish our conversations especially the ones in the early hours in the mornings and late hours in the evenings. Our conversation flowed effortlessly, and no topic was off limits. Oh how I wish I could have back those missed calls. When I remembered you I will play "You Raise me up - by Westlife”…….Forever in our hearts ❤️.