https://substack.com/inbox/post/137680660

“Relish the gaps,” said the old woman at the nursing home, grabbing at my hand as I walked past.
“I’m sorry… do you need your nurse?” I said, reluctantly giving her my hand to hold.
Her bones felt frail. I wasn’t there to see her. I didn’t know this woman.
“Everyone lets life pass them by,” she said urgently, ignoring my obvious discomfort. “They’re always focused on attaining and accomplishing, meeting their goals, winning people’s approval. Then before they know it they’re sitting in a place like this, wondering where it all went.”
“I’ll tell you where it all went,” she continued, cutting me off before I could reply. “It zipped right past them while their minds were wrapped up in the next thing. The next event. The next goal. The next accomplishment. Then it’s all over, and all they’ve got is a handful of memories of those few things they were focused on, with all the gaps gone unnoticed and unappreciated.”
“The gaps?” I said.
“Yes the gaps child, the gaps in between! In between all those moments they spent their lives looking forward to. That’s where all the life is!”
She smiled and gave my hand a little pat before relaxing back into her chair. Her exertion had taken it out of her.
“Or almost all of it, anyways. All those moments where you’re sitting, walking, working, talking, seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling. Everyone lets them pass them by while they’re focused on other things. They don’t relish them. They don’t enjoy them as they come. It’s disrespectful, really.”
“Disrespectful?”
“Yes, love! Yes! Life goes to all this trouble to present them with a beautiful moment — a bird singing, the smell of coffee, light through the window — and they spit on it! They snub the invitation to relish and enjoy what’s on offer, just to focus on their own thoughts about what they did or didn’t do in the past and what they will or won’t do in the future. Do you not think that’s disrespectful?”
Be seeing you

