I have heard it said, you never know what you have till is gone. I think the person who first said that was also the person, who said, enjoy the little things while you can. We so often lose ourselves in our daily chaos. We let our worries, fear, and anxieties consume us. We become so focused on where we are going, that we forget to the enjoy where we are. Sadly, before we even know it, our best years are gone and most precious moments are just memories. Every once in awhile, I stop and look at the beauty all around me. Stepping out of the continual flow of the busy life, I can than remember the simple things. I spend too much time spent worry about the problems in our world that I forget about the innocents all around me. Like catching the fireflies on a warm summers night. The masterpiece you see displayed every morning in the eastern sky. The smell, in the air, just after the thunderstorm. Experiencing the feeling, when you run through the cold, damp, grass on a summer’s night. It maybe the big things that we are known for but it’s the little things that make life worthwhile. Though I maybe to able to enjoy all these things. I think of the less fortunate. While I’m sitting on my back patio looking at the sunset cast a colorful reflection on the water and the geese who fly overhead to bed down for the night, as the sound of the crickets twilight serenade fills the air, I think about them. Its when See or hear about people who have to deal with so much, That I see how blessed I truly am. I than can see how much I have taken for granted. I realize how discontent of a person I am.
I remember once, I was in down town Lansing, I was pumping gas and judging by the freezing winds it had to be at least 15 below. Digging through the trashcan beside me was an older man. He looked around 60, his face dirty and his long shaggy hair poked out from under his tattered snow hat. His torn jeans looked as though they had not left his body in years. The worn out boots look as though he has walked a hundred miles in them, and I’m sure he had. Yet, hidden in his mangy white beard was the biggest toothless grin you ever saw. “Well hello there.” His angelic voice said to be as he passed by my car. “It’s a pretty cold night huh? I gotta stock up on paper towels.” While he spoke he grabbed a couple hand full’s of paper towels and pushed them into his dirty blue and white Detroit Tigers jacket. Reaching in his other pocket and pulled out a small portable radio. “My daughter got my an early Christmas present.” His big brown eyes shown with so much pride as he presented it to me. “Isn’t it the best radio you ever did see hun? It has both Fm and Am radio.” He continued to show me his radio, holding it like it worth millions. “Listen to how clear it is. You never heard a clearer radio did you?” We talked until I had finished pumping my gas. I got in my car and he went on his way. Sitting for a moment I watch him. I watch him go from pump to pump showing off his radio to anyone who would listen. He was so happy. He was freezing, probably hungry yet, happy. He had just been given the world. He held the world is his old callused hands. That little radio which probably cause 5 maybe 10 bucks was the most valuable thing he owned. Yet while he was content with his radio here I am sitting in my warm car, on my way to my warm house. Discontent. With all I have been given and yet I still want more. I still can only see the negative in my life. Sure his hands could get frost bit if he didn’t find some place warm for the night. Sure he would probably never have more than a couple bucks to his name, but he didn’t care. He was so happy to have a daughter to love him enough to buy him such an amazing gift as a radio. If only I could live with so much joy and contentment. So just like he was given a priceless gift that night so was I. I was given the gift of happiness. I was able to see first hand what true happiness really is.
