Collect moments. Not things. – Me
Do you have a favorite moment? Something you’re glad you experienced? Please share it in a comment today!
I used to be a big collector. Before I met MTM, my house bulged with stuff: Victorian antiques, floral patterns, picture frames spangled with glitter, closets and garages brimming with things. I bought things because I could and told myself they validated me.
I still hoard too much: Clothes I’ll probably never be thin enough to wear but can’t give up; scraps of hundreds of trips; twenty thousand photographs; five collections of china; and books. Oh, the books.
But age has given me a gift. I now understand experiences are the building blocks of a fulfilled life. I forego new dresses to buy airline tickets. I say yes to outings with friends when I should be meeting deadlines. I pack every trip with new faces and try to stay connected whenever someone gets me.
Because the people I touch save me. They hold my secret pieces, bits of myself I flung away with full knowledge I may never recover them. I’m always staggered by those moments. I’m usually in a strange town with people I’ve never met, and someone will come up to me and say, “Here’s this little sliver. That tiny shard. It lodged itself into my soul, and I’ll never be the same, and I wanted you to know.”
I deny myself so many things these days to collect those moments. Without them, my Life carries less meaning, and I want my life to matter.
What about you?
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6 Comments
I have lots of moments. I can remember how the field smelled after winning a championship, the swirl of water on my legs as a steelhead gifted my lure with his presence, the hug my daughter gave me when the Red Sox finally won the World Series, the tired smile my Laura gave me when we’d escaped everybody and were having dinner on the evening after our wedding, the awe as I first saw the printed novel I’d written, the little involuntary grunt of recognition as I read a poem that moves me. All these moments make a stream-of-consciousness life. Thousands of moments, gifts that I will carry with me forever.
the older i’ve gotten, the more of an experience vs. things person i am. these are the real irreplaceable things.
As we age moments are all we really have to call our own. All the rest is loaned.
No object will ever take the place of people and the moments you have with them. You are wise to buy a plane ticket rather than ten new outfits.
I have many good memories of meals and laughter with friends. (Like the time I met you and Penny for lunch.) Times like that remind me of how precious life is.
I have many, but (fast) dancing with my father at my wedding is up there. He had lost a lot of weight and was the healthiest I had seen him. He looked so handsome, proud and happy. 🙂
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