Another day has gone. How was it? Nothing special, you might say. But actually, it was pretty unique, the last in the chain of days that belongs to your life for sure. I hope this doesn’t sound too creepy, but I have thought this way since I was a child. In a way realizing the potential loss of everything makes life so bittersweet all the time.
I feel that every day is a gift that I should not waste. This doesn’t mean working like crazy or trying to achieve more and more. It means quite the opposite. It makes me enjoy the moments I have and the people I meet. It gives the pleasure of working, walking, thinking, listening… There are so many ordinary things that are too special to be taken for granted.
Looking back in life shows a line of pictures, some very clear, some vague and faded. I have a strange head. It takes me back to the layers of decades and years in my life. It brings back the sounds, the smells, the feelings – and above all, the people I have encountered. They still talk to me, and I feel their presence even though they are physically long gone. Each of them has left a unique touch on me and made an impact on my life.
Once I wrote a children’s book about a granny bird, who had to answer her grandchildren’s questions concerning her life. The curious little ones wanted to know the top memories. What had been the most exciting or the most beautiful things granny had experienced? She had a lot of memories, happy and tender, sad and scary. She had lived a full life.
Why did I choose the photo of a child’s hat on a rocking chair here? This little chair has witnessed a lot. Over half a century ago, it was the highlight of my second Christmas. Since then, it has been a joy of two more generations. I still remember the look in my father’s eyes when he watched my children swing in it. That generation is already adults, and I’m already a granny – a granny that sometimes feels herself like a child.
I cannot stop the wheel, which seems to spin faster and faster. The years pass. But I can collect memories and store them in my heart. As a children’s writer, I have a particular use for them. For the sad ones, too. If you only knew what kind of journeys my mind travels, as I write a book. All my memories are filtered to share life experiences appropriately.
I love the thought of using a warm heart and warm hand for creating something good for others, too. The father who buys a little rocking chair for his child – and has enough time to spend together to swing it – creates powerful memories that carry on for decades. They even influence the next generations.
Also, the grandmother who knits connects her warm memories and good wishes into each loop, intending to protect the next steps of her offspring.
We are here now. This day and life are ours, just now—every person, word, smile, and touch matters.
Today is a special day. Let’s make many warm memories.
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