A Century of Memories
Published: Nov 17, 2014
Never regret something that once made you smile, no matter the reason of its departure.
Because behind every one of those smiles is a hundred moments and many hundred memories.
Live those moments now, even if those memories will last you a lifetime.
This blog was not inspired by me, but by someone particularly special.
I have never met her, but I have heard stories, and this is one of them.
It was her 101st birthday. Yes, I said it correctly, 101 years of age. She received a gift from her family, a painting, but not just any painting. It was an image of her house. A house she lived in for 80 years. A house where she raised her family and where she grew old. A house where she cried, laughed, celebrated holidays, and mourned sadness. A house who gave her shelter, held her food, and kept her warm. A house who she turned into a home.
A home she no longer is able to live in, has become all a memory. Lasting, yet fading. Cheerful, yet saddening. Yesterday sending a warm hello, a memory she would love to return to.
The painting made her happy. So happy that she lost her speech. Her memories, sneaking out of her eyes and rolling down her face. Her happiness, radiating, like waves across the room. Her family, feeling the power of a happy memory, too, were happy. They were happy because they could share this moment with her, create this memory with her; a memory that will last forever.
These moments are just seconds, minutes, hours of our lives. Simple, repetitive, monotonous moments consume us. Unfortunately, we may never know the significance of a moment until it becomes a memory. But we do know that memories can last a lifetime because the memories we love, don't ever go away. They walk beside us each day, unseen, unheard, never far, always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear. What we enjoyed once, we can never lose. Because what we have enjoyed, we have loved, which ideally has become a part of us.
For her, her home was her greatest memory, her greatest time piece, and her greatest comfort. She blossomed, she thrived, and she lived there. She loved her home and what she has loved, has become her. Her house is always there, beside her in memory, a place where she is home.
Sometimes I just sit and remember, the best things in life are the people we love, the places we have been, and the memories we have made along the way. Today, live for today. Live in that moment, the moment that will be worth remembering. Make today so beautiful that it would be worth a painting. A painting worth that of a hundred moments: a century of memories.
-Happiness in Handfulls