A few years ago when Greg and I were discussing having kids, as most couples do, Greg was hesitant to go on that journey at the same time I wanted to.
And then he went to China and watched the Adam Sandler movie Click (not in Chinese), the one where he fast forwards through his life and misses everything.
Greg called me from China and said, "There really isn't any better time than the present moment."
I thought of this story tonight on my way home from yoga.
I had just finished a class with heavy emphasis on staying present, and bringing the mind back to the here and now.
In the car on the way home, I first heard Five for Fighting's 100 Years. You know, "Fifteen, there's still time for you..." A little look back to tell your teenaged self to slow the heck down and stop wishing your life away. Coincidentally, this is now one of Greg's favorite songs.
In channel surfing I made a rare stop on the country station (my friend Amanda would be proud), and I heard Kenny Chesney croon about taking a nap when you're six and waking up and you're twenty-five and married, and so on and so forth until your wife is dying and you wish the good Lord would take you instead. Cue tears and typical sappy country music ridiculous sadness.
Just stay in the moment, these songs were reaffirming. You have to stay in the moment.
So I walk in the door, and I see Will hasn't had a bath yet and Greg is finishing up dinner, and I go to put my keys down and get busy when Will says, from a pile of blocks on the floor, "Mama sit."
I stopped and smiled. And I sat.
"Mama build tower?"
Of course, of course mama will build a tower. Because Friday you'll be two, and we'll go to bed that night and you'll wake up eighteen, and life is far, far too short, each breath too sweet and precious to just run around aimlessly doing things to get them done and wait for the next moment.
Stay in this one.
I feel pretty lucky that I'm a person who (most of the time) stops to savor such things.
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