In Praise Of An Ordinary Day
I came across these lines this morning and I really want to share them with you. When I think back to the times I was laid low by chemo, sick and tired, how I longed for an ordinary day. And since the death of my mother, I would give anything to spend one more ordinary day with her again. Reading these words as I start my day makes me grateful to be facing an ordinary day. How about you?
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face into the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.
Mary Jean Iron
This made me cry as I am longing for an ordinary day right now
SOOOO True!
Thank you for the reminder – great start to the day
It is true that we take what we have for granted – and it doesn’t just apply to an ordinary day – we take the people in our lives for granted too…until they are no longer with us, and oh how we long for an ordinary day with them again
Simple, but profound – thanks for sharing Marie
I love this x
Audrey – your post truly resonates with me. I am on my way to my final chemo treatment (radiation still to come) and lost my father to lung cancer three weeks ago today. One strength each day for me has been this idea of the ordinary. I sit each morning and remember what I would do in an ordinary day and recreate it as much as possible. Looking forward to the ‘new’ ordinary! Bless you.
These are beautiful words. They remind me of something a GP I worked with said when my father died of cancer just two weeks after my own treatment finished….he said “there will be better times again”. I found those words a great comfort. And he was right. Wishing you all better times.
gorgeous
Really resonated with me as i read these words today
An ordinary day with my mother- that would be wonderful. We’d laugh and annoy each other and fuss about clothes and gossip and set the world to rights
Today, just thinking about that makes me smile and feel my place in the world; another day (or maybe later today!) I’ll be overwhelmed with grief at what’s been lost, and how that sort of ordinary day is past.
You’re right- we need to make the best of the ordinary days we have right here right now
I am still at the overwhelmed with grief stage speccy – the smallest things reduce me to tears.
I’m 18 months into being an orphan- I don’t cry every day any more, but I still get blindsided sometimes x
Marie, I love you! I will continue to lift you and your family up in prayer!
I miss you! Cathy
Maybe you have read it, and may do the same for you. I wish I could provide you with the comfort you need, but only the God of the universe can do that; wishing you all the love you deserve to be able to be happy! Trust you are loved emensely, more than we know or can fathom! xoxo PS another great inspirational man of faith I heard this year live “John Maxwell” http://www.facebook.com/ChristFellowshipChurch love you. xoxo
Just fnished the book “Proof of Heaven” amazing story, linked so many things together for me while here on earth! Here is the link from the doctor’s journey,http://www.eternea.org/Eben_Alexander/biography_eben.htm;
For me I have lost many love ones, Brother (head injury) Dad (man slaughter), Brother-n-law (brain tumor astrocytomoa grade 4), Mom’s best friend and her Mentor(Murder) my Mentor Maria (brain tumor-gleobalstoma grade 4), my Uncle Tom (cancer) he was another Mentor, my friend Lydia (breast cancer) and for me dealth, life, earth, family, adoption, medical, science, at the end for me I took “surrender” big for me out of the book “I am truly loved” not by earthly love; I will dissapoint, not meaning too, as do my loved ones me; this book cemented my Faith and belief in Eternal life, and at the end I feel safe and happy!
Marie, My Mother passed in 2001 I’m was always glad she met you! I am comforted to know especially after readding “Proof of Heaven” that she is in a place that gives her all the things this world nor I could give her, and she finally has the love she deserves! I want to feel that love here, and be happy until I see her again; for me to have that I have to work on my relationship with God, and little by little it is not an effort, quite the opposite; Not sure if I told you when I see a butterfly, I say it’s Mom! She toward the end loved these colorful dresses, so now, when I see a butterfly, and by the way, I usually see them when I’m being good to myself, as if she appears to give me not only her approval, but enouragement for me to stick to what I need to do to be healthy mind, body, soul and spirit. By the way, Butterflies are in Heaven! I would love to catch up, and hear you laugh!
miss you
Wonderful to see this comment from you my dearest friend x
Thanks you for a wonderful way to begin today!
I too remember longing for an ordinary day, both while holding my dying mom’s hand and while enduring my own diagnosis, surgeries, recovery, etc. What a beautiful reminder, Marie.
Yes, ordinary days are nice. A time when we have less distractions so we can just enjoy.
So beautiful, Marie. Thanks for sharing it.
My pleasure Stacey – I was just thinking about you today and wondering how you are?
I have 2 more chemo cycles to go and can’t wait to have an ordinary day. Appreciate the ordinary , not rush around thinking about tomorrow and the future and live for the day
My office window looks over a portion of our land. I say “our,” because I still imagine James is here, working on the ranch, trimming trees, feeding the deer or heading down into the canyons to clear brush in order to help the springs flow easier. Most people would consider those activities as ordinary, but if you watched him, even for a little while, you realized how much he loved the land. It wasn’t ordinary, even then, but it would be everything if I could see him there for another second or two. I know it would mean EVERYTHING if you could see your mother as well.
XOXOXO,
Brenda
oh sweetheart, my heart aches at your words – I know just what you mean – much love to you Brenda xxxx
This really touched me because you appreciate being in the moment. It’s so important we remember to feel the joy of our days as we know there are some that are so tough. I am sure losing your mother was especially difficult and you would give up so much for another great day with her… Yet you are appreciating being in the present. Thanks Marie. This is so beautiful with it’s gentle simplicity. XoXoXo – Susan
Thank you Susan – I admit I am not very good at living every day like this but when I read these words today, I knew it was a message i needed to take to heart
Oh, the wonder of an ordinary day. I haven’t had one of those for years since my world fell apart with marital betrayal and the a resounding betrayal by my own once-reliable body. I try to find the ordinary in the flight of birds and the sight of roses blooming. But a pain in my back will remind me that I must rest and rely on memory for many of my good times. A recent visit with all my sons revived my soul like nothing else and I will long cherish that memory of an ordinary, extraordinary day. Beautiful post, Marie. xxoo
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Really beautiful. Thanks for this.
This is a wonderful quote and perspective. All too often we live in want–you know, wanting the new car, special vacation, lose 10 pounds–whatever. From the state of want we miss the beauty of the ordinary. Thank you for sharing.
Oh Marie. You know what? I once planned what a day with my mom would be like if I actually had a chance to spend one more day with her. I wrote about in my journal. I actually wrote down things we would do together and listed simple ordinary things we would talk about. Have you ever done that? It felt really good for me. I reread it sometimes and it’s like living that ordinary day over and over in my mind and heart. For me it brings up lovely memories. Thanks for the post, Marie. xoxo
Oh, yes…what a treasure it is to have.
Even the days that seems ordinary are tinged with the knowledge of cancer and its cost. I had one of them today — laundry, sorting through bills and bookkeeping, tidying up, groceries — and all of it under the shadow of hearing about women newly diagnosed with mets and others who have died. I guess that is what our ‘new ordinary’ is like.
And Nancy, what a wonderful thing to do. I have never done that formally, but I have thought many times of things I would love to do with my mom were she still alive. And yes, it was only sorrowful at first, but now it’s comforting.
Love to you, Marie, and thanks for reminding us about the beautiful ordinary. The one thing that does help me every day, ordinary or not, is to find some humor. If I can laugh at least once in a day, I know I still have my sanity. xoxo
Marie, these words are a gentle and perfect message to myself-it’s been a trying week both personnally as well as professionally. Thank you for this… xo
dear marie,
i loved those words, and know you must have so many memories of beautiful, ordinary days with your mom. me, too. my mom is far away, both physically and mentally, paralyzed in grief, mired in fear to live independantly w/o my dad, and expressing the wish to die. it’s manifesting as mild dementia, but i really believe she is just giving up. though she is alive and physically healthy, i have had to face the fact that the beautiful, spirited, loving, and joyful mom i once had is never coming back to me.
i decided that i will write to her, and create beautiful dreamscapes of the many things we experienced when i was a young child, how the beautiful memories she created for me became realities in the way they have been passed on to our children and grandchildren – how she cared for me when i was ill, how she and i made little pocket gardens of flowers all along our home, how she taught me how to ice skate, how she taught me to read and paint and sew, her laughing face and gentle encouragement, always present, made me want to be just like her. i will tell her the stories she told me – about the morning after i met hugh and knew he was THE ONE, how her love for him has always made him so happy and privileged, and how the love and awarenessshe has always treasured of the natural world was imprinted onto my soul, and has helped me through a great deal in life. i will tell her i am her legacy, her opus, the one that will live on and on even when both of us are gone. and so many other stories… she always thought i would be a writer, she championed every little poem, essay, letter i wrote…now i will be HER writer. we will have some lovely, ordinary days for as ever she still breathes…i hope it will bring her some happiness, i hope it will help fill the huge, aching place in my heart. i must show her I AM HER GIRL…
thanks for listening, dear marie.
much love, XOXO
karen, TC
Powerful and beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
So beautiufl
Marie, this reminds me of your “Celebrate the Ordinary” week-long challenge last August. That was fun, and it helped me appreciate the ordinary going on all around me.
Yes Renn, I thought of that too
Beautiful and oh so very true. I can remember longing for the ordinary. Now that I have it back in my arms, I’m glad posts like these are here as reminders that normal is wonderful. Thanks, Catherine
Catherine, isn’t it amazing how quickly we forget how precious the ordinary can be?