A couple years ago, I was driving through the beautiful mountains of Colorado, during a visit to the in-law's house. My boy was asleep in the back seat (which was the only way we could get him to take a nap at that time) and I was just cruising around, absorbing the scenery, enjoying the quiet, much-needed space that my brain rarely gets to wander anymore. I was thinking about my dad, who had just died a few months earlier, and thinking about the beautiful little human sleeping peacefully right behind me. I was replaying in my head, my dad's last few hours in the hospital... And then that strange, unspeakably sad moment when he gasped his last breath, and the sound of the heart monitor going to flatline. I had never witnessed a human being expire, and there really are no words that can properly describe the emotions that flooded my being. A flooding of tears, of course, but then when he was gone, the most strange sense of confusion and feelings of "what now?" Like, do we just leave the room? Where will they take him? Does it really even matter? A strange urge to stay next to him, fighting the logical part of my brain saying "he's gone. There's nothing more to do. Move forward." And in those types of moments in life, THAT truly is the only thing to do. MOVE FORWARD.
So, the lyrics and melody to this songs started to pop into my head. Along with the strong realization that it is OUR job to teach our children to recognize and appreciate ALL the beauty and goodness in this life. Lead by example. Take nothing for granted, practice constant empathy and kindness, and live each day in pure gratitude. There will be plenty of negative distraction in this world, and we cannot just roll the dice and hope our children focus on the positive all on their own.
Also, I started thinking about how much time we, as "adults" spend making a "living" while not truly LIVING at all. Doing so many things that are completely opposite of our human nature. Making ourselves sick, missing out on our children's most important years of development and growth. I started staring at my boy's face and I realized right then, that THIS is heaven. THIS moment right here. And this moment is all that we truly have, and all that we can count on. The past and the future are illusions that only exist in the PRESENT. NOW is all we have! Paradise was HERE all along.
Thank you for listening. ❤️