22 July 2017

.tiny moments of pleasure.

A childhood friend is driving from our hometown in Central Washington back to her home in Chicago this week. She passed thru Idaho last night and we met up for dinner. It was so lovely to catch up in that deep unspoken way that comes from having a childhood in the same place. She brought me a huge bag of fresh picked bing cherries from her family's orchard. A true summer treat!! Today was so so so hot, I made myself a fresh cherry milkshake and had a flash memory of my sweet Nana several years ago in her later stages of dementia. She wouldn't really eat except for fresh cherry shakes and french fries, those were her favorites. One hot summer day my mom and I drove her out to her favorite fruit stand with the best fresh cherry shakes in town. We sat down in the shaded picnic area and I was talking to my mom when I heard a loud slurping noise and looked up to see that noise was coming from my sweet southern belle Nana. I thought of that today with my shake and realized how even as she was fading from us and herself she still had those sweet tiny moments of pleasure.

Life is so unexpected and impermanent - we aren't granted anything, just tiny moments connected together - some are ecstatic, some are warming, some are exciting, some are challenging, some are bittersweet, some are shattering and some make our hearts expand bigger and wide than ever imagined.

This memory reminded me to continue to seek these tiny sweet moments of pleasure in my life. I hope so dearly that you are finding tiny moments of pleasure in your life.

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