IN SPITE OF OURSELVES
Thursday, Apr. 9, 2020
Having ‘your life flash before our eyes,’ is a familiar phrase, one we’ve all heard one way or another.
Writers correctly perceive such references get us to imagine what it must be like to suddenly realize, life of that imaginary character is nearing an end. Their high and low points in life, playing over in their mind like an inside they eyeball hi-lite reel.
I was looking for a document and photograph yesterday, ones stored years ago on old laptop, backed up on an old desktop – the entirety of which is backed up on yet another ‘still in use’ desktop.
Digging felt like a forensic dig through twenty years of work and play. Side-bar distractions, memories of projects past, people I’ve not talked to in a while – finding what I was searching for, but I found so much more.
Backed-up too, photos from an old phone. Paging through, picture upon picture of people, places, and events. Some friends and colleagues will soon receive ‘captured images,’ how they looked a long while ago. That will be fun.
Of course, we all looked better then.
Thinner, fitter, better hair …
Reminders, too, of times spent and who I spent those times with.
Reminders also, choices made, and why they were.
Stroll down memory lane, spurred me to Google for some lost-connections.
I recommend digging out photo albums, physical ones, and electronic ones.
You’ll find once-upon-a-time images to give you pause next time you look in a mirror, but more than that, you’ll have your life flash before your eyes. Laughter, tears, pains, and joys – revisit them all.
Unexpected by-product, remembering people and times, asking myself why some things happened, and why others didn’t. Looking to reconnect with some people, because we need a nudge sometimes, to where we were and who we were with. I don’t know when I’ll have this kind of time again.
