A day in your Life

“All the arts we practice are apprenticeship.  The big art is our life.”  -M. C. Richards

I was at the park yesterday running with my dog.  We stopped at the lakeside so he could jump in the water to cool off and get a drink.  A man in a kayak was paddling up to the shore and a kid about 22 or so was helping him get out of the kayak.  The kid asked the man if he had had a good ride, if he had paddled up west and looked at the hillside.  I think the kid was working for a kayak rental company or something.  Then it hit me.  The thought of a day.   I don’t know why it decided to hit me then, but it did.  I understood.  A day is a day is a day.  This man was out kayaking for “his day”.  He didn’t know what tomorrow would be, but he was enjoying the 80-degree-April-sunshine-not-a-cloud-in-the-sky-perfect day.  I wondered about the kid.  I wondered if he was enjoying his day, or was he rather just counting down the hours til he was off work, and could go hang out with his buddies.  How many times have I been there.  Passing through the day and not realizing what I was passing up.    I thought about my “day”.  I was “running with my dog”  that day.  I was “outside” that day.  I was “in the moment” that day.  I don’t know how I got it “that day”, but I did.

Today is a gift.  It will never return again.  Use it for something worthwhile in your life.  Don’t try to do everything today because everything can’t be done in “a day”.  But one thing can.  Do one thing well and great and magnificent.  Maybe it’s just a great working day.  Or maybe it’s a picnic day.  Maybe it’s a check out the new organic farm stand day, or maybe a make a homemade blueberry pie day.  But whatever it is, be happy about the “day”.  And what you choose to use your time doing during it.  Tomorrow is another day, to be used for something else.  Plan accordingly.  One day for work, one day for enjoyment.  One day for art or exercise or adventure. Be grateful for another day.  Be grateful for the moments you have in it.

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