Late in the evening of July 4th, after watching
some neighborhood fireworks, I sat alone on the deck, the warm, humid summer air wrapping around
me as I sipped a glass of wine and watched the fireflies dance through the
woods like tiny fairies. I was feeling
wistful, as I thought about July 4th holidays gone by and the many changes that
are inevitable in life.
For so many years, growing up, there were campfires,
torchwalks and fireworks on this day at our family cabin. We sat for hours, telling stories and gazing
at the vast expanse of sky and stars.
These special family times continued as our children grew up and they
became part of the fabric of our traditions.
My husband’s family had large picnics at his aunt and uncle’s
cottage in Canada and in my mind’s eye I can clearly see the beautiful expanse of
the lake and wide stretch of sandy beach that our children played on. There was swimming and windsurfing, sumptuous
picnic feasts and walks to the corner store to use our Canadian coins for
special treats. Driving home, we would
see the downtown fireworks display and the day would be complete.
So many of those special people are now gone from our lives,
passed on to some other realm. They are
loved and missed always, but things will never be the same again. They live on in our memories of course, but
the path of our lives has changed forever.
Life is so sad,
really in this sense; the inevitability of death and change is something that
we must acknowledge and accept so that we can move on, so that we don’t become
stagnant. It is in this acceptance and
in the letting go of the past that we are able to grow and find a new path.
I ask for help with this today- to understand that I can
continue to hold those happy memories in my heart, while letting go of my
sadness and attachment to them. I ask for
the wisdom and strength to fully embrace change as an inevitable part of life
and as an essential step on the path to spiritual growth.
Thank you God, for the blessing of change in my life….
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