Don't Miss It

Yesterday Audrey asked me when I was going to retire.  This is a question I have honestly not thought much about.  I have mixed feelings about retirement because I love teaching and working in a school setting.  I tried to explain how retirement was a strange thing to think about because it is really a time that we work for, so we don't have to work anymore, and have final chances to experience things before the end of our lives. 

So naturally, after this conversation, I started thinking about what I want to accomplish and achieve and experience in my lifetime.  Thinking about how I want to spend the remainder of my life is a strange, exciting, and slightly frightening process.  There is an endless amount of experiences and goals that I find on my list, but it is the end of life concept that is startling.  I have been thinking a lot lately about my personal beliefs and what happens after life ends.  While I don't believe in an "afterlife", I do think the energy in our bodies leaves out into the universe.  Whatever happens, I am trying to envision my life as this time here on Earth, with other living human beings. 

This idea is important to me, because I am not going to hold-out for an idea of eternal life once I die.  I am trying to live my best life right now with my children, wife, and friends and family.  I need to remember that each day is an opportunity to live rather than another tally mark in the countdown until death.  I don't want this post to become a cliche for living life to the fullest, or to live, laugh, and love.  Yes, those things are important to keep in mind...but this isn't Groundhog Day where we have unlimited opportunities to make every moment count.  I do believe, however, that we have the chance every day to show kindness or compassion in some sort of way.  Will I live each day as if it's my last?  No.  Can I try to find the good in others?  Can I try to exercise a little each day?  Can I find something to smile about?  Yes.  Each day doesn't have to be perfect...but each day should be thoughtfully lived.  Even in my bursts of anger or frustration or depression, I can still manage to help others, laugh at something, or at least allow myself to rest a little and be a better person than a few hours before. 

So I finish this blog post and now look ahead to a day of dog walks, laundry, and maybe some grading and a nap.  It is not a perfect day.  It is not going to be a day that I consider one of my best...at least I don't think it will be....but it is a day where I will do my best to laugh a little, be a healthier person, tell my wife and children I love them..and maybe find some contentment in the fact that I got out of bed today and accomplished some little things.  After all, it is the little things that add up to the larger foundations of a life lived.

-a