“Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has its own personality quirks which can easily be seen if you look closely. But there are so few days as compared to people, not to mention dogs, that it would be surprising if a day were not a hundred times more interesting than most people. But usually they just pass, mostly unnoticed, unless they are wildly nice, like autumn ones full of red maple trees and hazy sunlight, or if they are grimly awful ones in a winter blizzard that kills the lost traveler and bunches of cattle. For some reason we like to see days pass, even though most of us claim we don’t want to reach our last one for a long time. We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, no, this isn’t one I’ve been looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will start for real. Meanwhile, this day is going by perfectly well-adjusted, as some days are, with the right amounts of sunlight and shade, and a light breeze scented with a perfume made from the mixture of fallen apples, corn stubble, dry oak leaves, and the faint odor of last night’s meandering skunk.”
~ Tom Hennen
Tom Hennen, author of six books of poetry, was born and raised in rural Minnesota. After abandoning college, he married and began work as a letterpress and offset printer. He helped found the Minnesota Writer’s Publishing House, then worked for the Department of Natural Resources wildlife section, and later at the Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota. Now retired, he lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Image Source: Andreas Wonisch
Humanity should live each day as if it was their last.
Yes, and we certainly don’t.
For me, the last week passed too quickly, so I must have been enjoying myself
I’m cursing the zero at the end of my age at my next birthday. Okay, it’s an achievement reaching that age, but every day is just going too fast — lucky people who only need a couple of hours’ sleep a night.
Bored is definitely the opposite of creative, which means that I’m only bored when people are stopping me from being creative
Smiling. Create away pal. Create away.
Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say. I welcome this author’s tacit encouragement to embrace ech day for its uniqueness. I often find myself motoring mindlessly through a day, checking off items on my “to-do” list and simultaneously managing to completely miss *being in the moment.*. Then something will happen that brings me up short–this morning it was a bird singing its little heart out as I walked out of the gym–and I stop, inhale, and say to myself, “I am SO lucky to be here, now.”. Gotta embrace the magic of these quotidian moments when they come, that’s my takeaway….
Me too. Me too. Motoring. Mowing down the tasks. Yes. Yes. No!
Yep…each new day is a gift.
Yes.
I needed this today. Thanks.
I did too!
Here’s to recognizing the day as being at the least ‘well-adjusted’ and at best, spectacular. And I write this from the airport, ready to head home -and even in the sterility of the airport, I must say, it’s all pretty spectacular from where I’m sitting.
Glad to hear it Mimi. Sounds like you had a wonderful get away.
WOW.
Exactly!
Great share! Be here NOW I tell myself every single day. Awesome reminder.
Thanks Aurora. It is an awesome reminder.
Oh, skunkishness is a lucky omen!
I didn’t know that!
So true! Life is beautiful every day. We just need to get off our own way, to actually see it. Great post!
Thank you!
Ah…nothing like a well adjusted day
Yes.
Each day is definitely a gift
It certainly is.
Yesterday I sat in the hairdresser’s chair looking at my face. I said how I hate getting older, and then I stopped short, realizing that the alternative is not much fun either. So I think enjoying every day we have is a very positive way to make the most of our lives. I like to have many goals, both short and long term, low priority and high, and if I feel I’ve achieved something that leads towards those goals then it’s usually been a good day.
So true Anneli. So True.
This post brings the concept right into our consciousness, David!! Thank you!!
I agree Joyce. Thank you.
How we take for granted each day that we are given.
Yes, Lorne, on point