Stopping to smell the, well, whatever they are! (and a little reflection on life)

Stopping to smell the, well, whatever they are! (and a little reflection on life), originally uploaded by Photomike07.

First off, I am at another one of those moments that finds me scrambling for an image that makes sense. My evening posts, as is the case tonight, often challenges me this way. So often we go about our days with total oblivion about the moment we are in. The mind often takes on these journeys into the future, hoping for new opportunities, better days, greener grass..... or perhaps the opposite. A reflection of days gone by......the good ole days as it were, " I remember when", if only it were like yesterday. It can be maddening. It sometimes seems impossible to enjoy the now, yes those precious moments, the only moments actually, that you are in total control of! Right here, right now, that is all you have in essence. Savour it, grab a hold of it, live it.....you never know what the future holds. Sure, it is foolish not to plan for the future, but to loose focus of the now is when the real fool shows its face.

I had one of those "real life" realizations this evening.

I was honored to be asked to run lighting for a benefit concert for a friend this evening. John and I had a few laughs, OK, a million laughs, in the early 90's when he worked with me. Driving across the country (a couple of times actually) has a certain way of cementing a relationship with someone. Sure, he moved onto bigger and better career opportunities, but as the years past, all it took was a few minutes of recollection for us to start cackling away the memories. Life takes us all on our individual journeys, but good friends become the landmarks by which we remember the trip by.

So why was it so hard to walk out of the lighting booth and say hi to him tonight? I timidly walked up to his wheelchair during intermission, a space in the theatre reserved for him, his wife of 15 years, and his wonderful 3 children, and prayed to God to help me find the right thing to say.

You see, a couple of years ago, on what started out as a normal South Florida morning, John set out on a little fishing trip. Out with a few friends to enjoy a day off, there was no way to know that his trip back to shore would eventually find his way to a new life and a challenging one for his family. A brain aneurism can do that to you I guess.

As I tear up, I kinda want to spare the exact details of him and his condition as its too difficult to imagine the internal pain he must be in. (not to mention his family). I hope he recognized me......I think he did, though it was a bit hard to tell. I can't even fathom the amount of strength that his family must endure just to get thru the day! My thoughts this evening are indeed with his family and close friends.

Now, right now, that is all you can be guaranteed to have ...... it can all change in a flash, so enjoy the present as it is in fact a gift!