Winding Down

It never fails to amaze me how quickly life slips by. With a three month trip to the Czech Republic, I thought I would really feel like time had passed, but that wasn't the case this trip. True, I wrote most of a novel, did a ton of reasearch on publishing, and got more into social networking, including adding lots of photos to my repertoire. I also read about ten books (the lengths varied, but most were on the long side.) Then there were the trips to see friends around Czech and in Germany, as well as shopping trips with my Mom-in-law. Not to mention the bit about learning how to cook some traditional Czech meals. (Naturally, I still wouldn't say that I've reached any sort of proficiency in that area, but at least if I have a decent recipe I should be able to make an actual attmept.)

When I write it all out like that it looks like quite a lot. But the truth is, it has all flown by and we're down to one week. I find myself gearing up for the panic of packing and stressing over flight time management. I've decided to leave a list of things I leave behind on this trip, so that the next time we come over I won't overpack. It's so easy to forget, over the course of the year, exactly which outfits I frantically pulled out of my bag in order to meet the regulation weight.

In other news, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary yesterday. Any sort of first is always a big deal. While it is true that each day and event is a gift, firsts generate a different sort of sensation. They remind us both of the passing of time, as well as the importance of remembering. Throughout the day I was thinking of little bits of my wedding day. I remembered the muffins we had for breakfast that I could hardly get myself to eat. Every time I have them now, I will be pulled back to that moment. I thought about going through a coffee shop in Philomath and buying drinks for a few of my girls who were in the car with me. It was such an incredible feeling to tell the barista that I was about to get married. Then, that night, I pulled into Dutch Bros. as a wife, and when I shared the fact the girl gave us our coffee for free.

I first started journaling seriously because I realized that every day we live will be both a first and a last. We mark the big events in life (birthdays, weddings, life changes, etc.) but often forget that this day (2-20-12) will never happen again. Regardless of your beliefs about the possibility of time travel, you will never be able to experience this moment in exactly the same way. This is the one shot you've got.

So as I come to the end of this post today I'm left thinking of the three months that have just gone by, as well as the year that I have spent as a married woman, and I have to ask myself if I have really remembered that each of those days was a gift. It's so easy to focus on the irritations in life, or the things that stress us out, but it's far more important to remember a lovely moment sitting on the snow with the sun in your face like I experienced this afternoon with Mark. I'm not generally one to moralize on my blog (though I can't always hold myself back when a soap box suddenly presents itself) but I think this is really worth considering. Life flashes by in an instant. Isn't it better to enjoy the time we have to live and grow and share together, than to stress and worry and make the people around us miserable? Here's to hope that the days to come will bring more moments to cherish and more chances to take ahold of joy.