(Anyone else feeling like this lately? No? Just me then? 2016 has blown goats.)
On Christmas night we all gathered together for a
post-Christmas-yay-it’s over let’s eat party at Mama Joye’s. After stuffing our
faces with all the holiday sweets my mom in an effort to keep every one’s
phones in their pants asked us to gather around campfire style and talk about
their strongest Christmas memory.
My first thought was shit. My second thought was if I hide out
in the bathroom would anyone notice?
Listening to everyone’s strongest memory it was my turn. This is
what I said/wrote:
“The Christmas in which I remember most was Christmas 2013. It
was the last Christmas that Emily was able to come home she was pregnant with
Thea, everyone was home and it was the last Christmas we had Grandma before we
lost her a month later.”
As I sat up late Christmas night I realized would I have done
anything different if I had known that was my last* Christmas? (*When I say
last I mean the last Christmas of my childhood.)
Which makes me wonder am I prepared for things to be my last? I’m
in good health and I’m relatively young but life changes in the ordinary instant.
Which means I’m building up the memories of my last.
First off. My last meal. Realistically my last meal will be one
that I’m too sick to eat/and/or be one that I will throw up. So I have decided
that my last meal so to speak will be all the family dinners, the wonderful
meals eaten in cities which none of friends live, and tasting things for the
first time.
After having that morbid thought I thought to myself what are
the things I most enjoy in life? What are sixteen things I can look forward to
next year?
Here’s my list:
11.My family.
2
22. Spontaneous
trips to cities I’ve never been.
33. Driving over the bridge to the house in Sun Valley
in Fall and seeing the trees lit up in the various hues of red, gold and amber.
44. Spring. Mainly that magical moment when it is
finally warm enough to open your windows and air out all the despair and stale
air of winter. Also after finishing your spring cleaning and reading a new book
and smelling spring come.
55. A bottle of regular coke and floating in the pool in
Summer reading People magazine.
66. Eating dinner with friends in cities we don’t live
and probably will never be in again.
77. Fresh clean sheets. Oh is there nothing more delicious
than when you finally are able to get all comfortable in your bed after a long
day of cleaning and enjoying a freshly made bed that’s your own?
88.
Taking a bath with a really good story.
89. Sitting on the beach in the late afternoon in Maui
under an umbrella and watching the sun play on the ocean.
110.
My grandpa’s stories.**blogpost coming soon on where
I learned the art of story**.
111.
Flying in a double or single prop plane and looking
out over the mountains, people, and that sense of being in the middle between
sky and earth. It’s a rare feeling and it’s hard to describe.
112.
Thanksgiving dinner.
1
113.
Ice cream.
114.
Rain.
115.
The quiet hush of the first real snow fall. Walking out
late at night when no one is around, traffic is quiet and listening to that
peaceful quiet. The rare quiet of nature. No phones, no dings, no loud music,
just absolute and peaceful quiet.
116.
Laughter.
What are your sixteen things you look forward to? Or sixteen
things that have been positive in this last year?
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