Gold nuggets II

 

My very first gold nugget 

It was summer. I was outside, in front of our house, with the early morning sun in my face. I wore a summer dress and my hair had a pin in it to keep it orderly.

I was on the sidewalk entertaining myself by keeping my feet within the contours of the 1’ x 1’ concrete tiles. I promised myself then and there that I would always do that, no matter how old I would become. I wondered if I, as a grown-up, would be able to see the outlines of the tiles from so high up. I was three and a bit. 

I still want to fit my shoes within the lines of floor tiles. I am in my seventies.  Adrian Monk makes it look stranger than I feel.    

Locked up within this memory is another feeling. I’m not even sure if it happened the same morning, but my memories glued them together. 

Between keeping track of feet and tiles I realized I was content. It was good to be me and on the sidewalk, in the sun. It was a simple feeling, without expectations or consequences; a knowing, without complications or implications. I was too young to understand the thought, but the feeling has stayed with me always, framed by the 1'x 1’ tiles. I consider it the first realization of ME. 

I am telling you this story, because after my presentation at the Everett Newcomers luncheon, Evelyn raised her hand and gave us a short version of the latest few years of her life. She was 96 at that time. Five years before, she had sold her home in the Midwest to move to a retirement home here in Mukilteo WA, close to her daughter.  She was an avid bridge player, a social butterfly, nicely dressed, and joining every activity she could. 

When I asked her to share her secret with us, she thought for a moment and said: “I am content. I love what I have. I enjoy what I have. Life is good”. 

Her words resonated with the three-year-old in me.

 

Whisper of the day:  

Contentment is one of life's purest gold nuggets, no matter age or circumstance.                                                               It simply wants us to notice.

 

 

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