Enjoy. The. Little. Things.
This one has been staring me in the face for a while now. The image of Lucy and my grandfather rolling around on the floor stood at the top of this blog page for more than two and a half years.
I wrote that story two weeks after we moved to Philadelphia, and two days after I visited my grandparents. It wasn’t a great time in our lives. Things were really in the air. We moved to Philly, but I hadn’t found a job. We didn’t have our own place to live. Lucy wasn’t even in day care yet - Lucy hadn’t even turned one yet.
Things changed so much and so little since that time.
My grandfather featured in the photo passed in February. He still was as bright as ever at the end, and Lucy got to say goodbye through Facetime in her own three-year-old way.
I reread that post before writing this one and there’s one line I like to highlight here: “I know just how blessed I am to have a strong connection with (my family), but I didn’t realize how much I needed them… It’s an event I’m not going to take for granted ever again.”
To my own credit, I feel like we’ve appreciated these moments so much more. Even as my grandfather began to fade, my family - whether that be me, my wife and daughter in some combination - got to see him so many times. We wouldn’t have had that in a different life.
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Today, we celebrated my brother’s birthday. It would’ve been a full weekend affair had we lived three hours away, but it was a quick trip for me and the kids. It was a day filled with fun, but one moment stands out.
My two grandmothers - friends who continually kibitz with each other - were holding my four-month-old son. One grandmother kept playing with his feet, while the other sang “you are my sunshine.” I snagged a quick photo on my phone to remember the moment.
On the ride home as the kids slept in the backseat, I tried to think about why this meant so much to me. Like, the moment itself is adorable, but I think in the past few years, I’ve quickly realized life can change in a blur. People come and go. Trauma and drama can present themselves at every turn.
But in just a handful of minutes, none of that matters. None of that matters when you see your son with a gummy smile and uncontrollably laughing. None of that matters when you see your grandmothers forgetting their own issues and loving the addition of new life to the family.
***
So if you’re struggling with things and you need a sign, take this: Enjoy. The. Little. Things.
We don’t know how long things will last in that moment. Bad shit happens all time time. Why not enjoy a positive moment when you have it right in front of you.