What really matters?

This summer has been pretty horrific as far as natural disasters. The Northern California fires particularly affected me since they were close enough that I was breathing in the smoky air. You can’t help but think of what you would do in such a horrific situation. What if you really only had moments to get out of your house what would you take? 

I think most of us know that with little time the priorities are our families including our furry ones. You hear a lot of people say that people and pets can’t be replaced everything else can be. That is both a true and untrue statement. Of course, family and pets are irreplaceable but so are some items. I read a lot about people losing things that connected them to people that were no longer with them. Those items can’t be replaced. And those items mean something to us. I think we all have some items that we keep just because they connect us to someone we have lost. It may be antique jewelry or it may be a worn out tee shirt that still has their smell on it.

I have several voicemails I have saved for quite a while. Two are happy memories and one is a sad one. I don’t listen to them. But I don’t delete them either. I was recently talking to a friend about this and she said maybe I kept the sad memory one to remind of the time before that sadness entered my life. That is was a marker for me of before and after. That made a lot of sense to me.

I constantly try and fight to be present and enjoy my current life. It can be a struggle especially in times of tumult like we have in our country right now. However, I also know that life is fleeting and can totally kick us down when we least expect it. And I want to have good memories when those bad things happen not memories of me worrying about what was to come. What really matters is relationships and connections. We like to keep those tee shirts and jewelry because they remind us of that.

Photo Copyright: docer2000 / 123RF Stock Photo