I was fixing dinner the other day and my mind was wandering, as it does when I cook - cooking is a very meditative process for me. I thought back to when my kids were young and we were sitting around on a rainy day, taking turns playing Super Mario Bros on Nintendo. It was just a small moment in their young lives. That moment, however, is crystal clear to me. Our voices ringing laughter, their smiling faces, the snacks on the coffee table, the music and sound effects from the game, all a pleasant cacophony of sounds from a moment in time.
We NEVER know what moments in time will be so easily recalled decades later. We never know what moments will define a time of life for us. Our lives are a series of small moments chained together to create days, weeks, months, years. Most of these small moments fade away, not easily recalled. But some, like diamonds, shine brightly and provide unending joy, or indescribable sorrow.
I was talking to one of my sisters the other day about our childhoods on Deer Lake. We were recalling getting to row the old green row boat around the lake alone for the first time. It was a big deal for my sisters and I. We had our big, fat orange life vests strapped on tightly. As we rowed, we looked at the houses and docks along the shore, the strange shapes we could see from our own dock, made clear having rowed so close to them. We felt so grown up in that little boat alone. We didn't know, in that small moment, that the memory would last a lifetime and make us so happy recalling it.
When we come to the end of our lives, really all that will matter is how we treated people, and these small moments in time that take us back to immeasurable joy or, sometimes, sadness and grief. How fortunate that we have them, can relive them, can treasure them. These small moments make us who we are. They are like deposits in our banks of life we can withdraw anytime we need or want to.
Some withdraws hurt, bring up pain and loss, but without those, we would not recognize the joys, the innocent happiness of small moments with those we love.