Some folks live in the past, either longing for days long since past or lamenting choices they wouldn’t make again. I am a different kind of sinner. I am the guy that wishes his life away, longing for something that hasn’t yet happened, or thinking something better is always around the corner.
Yet I’ve long had this nasty suspicion that the secret of life is found in learning to appreciate the present moment. Of living for today. And every once in a while I taste it, if only for a moment. Like yesterday.
Blue skies, bright sun, seventy degrees, and I am driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, mountains to the left of me, and endless ocean to the right of me. The sunroof is open, Bono is pleading to the world that “It’s a Beautiful Day,” and I, for the moment, am convinced. A couple of Greek gods walk down the roadside carrying their longboards, a pretty girl zooms by me in her Porsche, a seagull undulates through the ocean breeze, and I want to scream I’m Alive! to the entire world.
And then the moment is gone, like the waves crashing on the shore beside me.
Oh, I enjoyed the trip into downtown L.A. the entire way and appreciated the gorgeous drive, but I’m not talking about appreciation. Appreciation is a dime a dozen. I’m talking about that crazy feeling of truly seizing a moment in time, but exulting in it lasted only for a moment. And then it was gone.
Before long I was lost in my thoughts once more, planning for the future, looking forward to summer, dreaming about what might come next.
But that’s okay. Maybe we are just wired that way – to live in the past, or live in the future, take your pick. Maybe if we could fully seize the wonder of each moment we would simply explode with joy. And wouldn’t that be a mess.
Minutes to Memories 