It all happens so quickly. I never understood my parents and teachers growing up when they would tell me how quickly life will fly by. When you're in school, you are so caught up in the daily routines that you feel as though time creeps by with no end in sight. However, over the last 2-3 years, as my college career came to a close and I officially became an adult, I have never agreed more with that statement. My first year of teaching is over in just 3 weeks. How did that happen? It feels as though I just began a couple of months ago. I realized that it shows not only how much I love my job, but also that time really does fly by.
We buried my grandparents ashes today at the Palm Beach Memorial Park. I got more emotional than I had anticipated. I didn't expect to really get emotional at all, as I never really knew my grandfather, and my grandma has been gone for a couple of years now, what with her dementia and now death. No, the emotion came from a deeper place. A place that I don't often allow to come to the surface of my mind and thoughts.
I sat there listening to the letters my grandpa had written to my grandma, the beauty of his words and the desire in his voice for her to always be his. To love him eternally. And I realized that our lives are fleeting. We want to hold on to everything, but we can't. Not even while we are here. Our lives change. We change from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, from high school to college, and then to a career. And all the while, we are switching friends. Old friends out with new friends, but if we're lucky, some of those old friends remain. And if we are really lucky, some of those old friends remain throughout our entire lives.
But I realized something always separates us here on earth. Moving, dying, marrying, etc. Our lives are constantly evolving into something new. And it can be fun, and exciting, and thrilling...but it is also scary and upsetting and sad.
With that said, I look forward to the day when we will all be together. And nothing, not time or space or evolution or anything will separate us. We will all be living together. No prejudices, no sickness, no uncertainty, no constant fear of change. We will be one forever, and every night will end with songs around a campfire, and we will always be in perfect harmony.
But until that day, my goal is to live the inbetween parts with happiness. I won't allow my frustrations to control my emotions. I will go to every event that my students ask me to if I'm able. I will start and finish every day with a smile in my heart that spreads to my face and pulses off of my attitude.
