Carpe Diem!

“Forever is composed of nows.”

― Emily Dickinson

Yellow flowers marked our journey.

When asked if I learned anything from traveling this summer, I told a dear friend, “No, I really did not learn anything”. Those words may have disappointed my friend, but I knew that I was relatively unchanged. I do not have any marked messages to impart to anyone (just because I had a great month-long journey).

My friend then asked me if I would bother to write a reflection about the trip, the time I spent as a “Walley Winged Wander”, and I said, “Yes”. I would write an impression.

Helen and I, in many moments, felt the joy.

Questioning the “why” in writing is always strange to answer. Why talk? Why sing? Why think? I tend to. I write.

I am writing this reflection without the intention of any directive or advice. I am writing to tell you I had amazing travels and to say “I am hoping that you do whatever it is you want to do”. I desire this for you because now is all we have.

Here and now is what we can offer ourselves.

Here are some here-and-now places!

Yes, as Emily Dickinson said, forever is composed of present moments. I like that thought. I believe this to be so.

Strung together, side by side, moments touch one another in sequence, progressing from one to the next. Seconds are threaded together like cookie crumbs on a trail, these morsels will help us find our way back, reversing steps when we remember.

Memories are lived, not made. This trip was filled with Maddie, Jackie, and Jean’s memories. Echoes of the past were lived with Helen and me in moments of now. This is, I’m sure, why these treasured ones felt so very present.

We made our own nods too, in candles and thoughts.

Maybe the ensuing gestures, nods, and winks as we called them, those special things, we encountered were not divine, but rather alluring and magnificent ticks of significance. Because those we loved so mattered and our loved ones lived so beautifully, therefore so did the very moments we enjoyed, they, the times, sang with their very breath. Helen and I smiled and cried often!

There are those of us privileged enough to do something special. We can do things such as eat an ice cream cone, ride a bike, put our feet in the ocean, walk under a canopy of flowering trees, watch a bird feed its young, catch a cool breeze on a cheek, or travel on a trip to honor dear ones, as Helen and I did.

If the time is right, then I encourage you to do that thing, whatever it is. Please act.

Eat, drink, and be merry.

Okay, so maybe that is a bit of a decree, but I know am not the first to mention the ‘carpe diem’ approach of living to you.

I wanted to go to Scotland to stand in my mother, Jean’s, footsteps. I hoped to see some of the McGhee family. I wanted to travel with my friend Helen and learn about her personal history. I wished to go with Joe to Belmullet and ponder truths about both of our Irish ancestors. I did all this and much more.

Enduring the rain, dancing, posing, laughing, it was all good!

These moments, times this summer, were beautiful, fleeting, and fine. The instants were brief and they were meaningful. If these did not enrich or change me, they did touch me.

Fleeting but fine moments, they were!

Words may not be enough to encourage you, yet your very own yearning and longings (to do the thing in your heart), the ache you have for doing something now, this should be ample inspiration.

Right now open the door or the gate!

Please do it, and just go where you are keen to and do what you want, while you can.

Carpe diem!

Now is the time!