Reflections on a Self-Check

It's 10:30 am and I wave goodbye to departing visitors and close the front door, embraced again by the temporary silence of an empty home. My mind, sluggish from lack of sleep ignores the tempting call for a nap. Instead I click "play" successfully ending the flashing red light signaling waiting messages on my answering machine. I listen while I load the dishwasher-glad there is nothing pressingly important that very moment.

The last few days, filled with faces and memories from the past has made me reflective. Reunions can do that. I'm reminded more starkly of the passing years as I gaze in the eyes of others faces. Once so familiar, now lined with age. I muse on a self-check. How fleeting life is, including my own. I hope the wisdom of age is progressing my focus on what matters most-the same thing it's always been-giving and showing love freely.

"None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short... when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet... accept someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; have patience with someone who let's us down; resist the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped...forgive someone whose hurt us...expect the best of each other and believe we're trying to do the best we can, in spite of our weaknesses."― adapted by a quote from Marvin J. Ashton