Keep The Shiny Side Up...

It's still quite early on a Saturday morning but I've been up for hours. I crawled out of bed as the sun rose and went to my parents house to help them prepare for another road trip. They, along with my sister Sue, are  making a journey out West for a Memorial service for my Uncle Bill who passed away unexpectedly this week. It is a journey with a sad purpose but at the same time, they are looking forward to the travel and to the final destination where they will visit with family not seen in many years. I am jealous beyond words to not be accompanying them on this trip but my sister has sworn to provide regular updates. I'm not so sure - they've been gone almost 30 minutes and I haven't heard from them yet...but I'll hold off on further judgement.

Over the past 50 years, my parents have made this particular road trip many times to visit with Dad's brothers and their families in Idaho. My Dad likely knows the road as well as any roads in our own town and Mom knows all the landmarks along the way. They cover many miles each day and as they have always done in all their travels, they savor each mile along the way. My sister told me that something one of them said made her think that maybe they thought this would be their last trip west. Not because they won't be able to travel but because calendars fill, lives are busy, and months and years go by quickly. I'm not so sure - I think they'll be making this journey yet again and I hope the next time, that I'll be able to join them.

Anyway, it got me thinking this week about "last times". There are all kinds of last times - expected and unexpected, sad and joyful. Some of the best last times are the ones that you expect and that you plan for or dream about. The last time you make your final car payment or your last college tuition payment, that's a pretty good last time. The last time you have to do a job that you hate, or see a person who has hurt you - those are pretty good last times. However, in most cases, we don't know when it's the last time. 

Years ago, when Mollie was no longer a little girl anymore, I wrote something in my journals to her about last times. I told her that it was a blessing that we didn't always know when the last time was happening. If I had known that it would be the last bottle I'd ever feed her, the last time she would crawl on my lap, or the last time she would ask me to pick her up in my arms, the truth is that I would have never let go. The thought of any of those moments never happening again, would be so devastating at the time which is why we are blessed that we can live our lives, knowing some moments are the last but yet continuing our journey.

When we lose someone, we think about the last time we saw them or spoke to them or their last moments and often times, we may have regrets about something we said or didn't say, did or didn't do. I think that's only natural for us to look back on things that way. We're told to "live every moment like it's your last" which is great if you can do it - but in reality, life sometimes fills our days and our moments with the "business" of living as opposed to the actual living itself. If we're lucky, we have opportunities to celebrate life with those we love and in those moments, we do live each moment like it's our last. The trick might be carrying that same thought over to the little moments - the bottle feedings, the hugs, the knowing glance across the room from the one you love about a shared joke - and not clinging to it as your last, but instead savoring it as though it could be the last time.

So, my parents and my sister begin their journey. My Dad always says when I'm taking a road trip..."Keep the shiny side up".  So that's what I will wish them now. Keep the shiny side up and enjoy all the moments.