Much Ado About My To
Do List
It seems the 'Bard' and Dickens were up to no good last
night - they put their heads together and decided that 3 am was the perfect
time for a creative session. No need to
inform Edie about the time change, "she loves laying awake at that hour
anyway, and it will give her a different program to tune into other than
Worriers Anonymous!" - annoying
pair, but they were right:
These two spirits took me on a journey back in time,
somewhat like Scrooge's Christmas Eve experience, to a small house on the banks
of the Rideau River. The program that I tuned
into was a series of vignettes that featured a poor family of 7 children and
two young parents and the intangibles that fed the imagination and ignited the
wonder in this little child's heart: the smell of my mother's delicious 'meals for
the masses', her tears as we tickled her into laughter, or as she hugged our hurts
away; the dancing eyes of my father as he shared one of his jokes, and quipped
Jimmy Durante's "I've got a million of 'em!" There, vying for room on the well-worn couch,
sat an eager group of children passing from lap to lap, members of the newest
litter of kittens and afterwards, not so eagerly, passing the buck about who's
turn it was to change the newspaper in their box! Another scene unfolded of the family gathered
in the living room, sharing in total silliness; in jokes and games and in the exuberant
singing of familiar songs with Dad on guitar and mouth organ, the leader of our
band.
I was completely
wrapped up in childhood when the Bard interrupted my reverie by proffering this line from his 'Julius Caesar': 'The evil that men do lives after them; the
good is oft interred with their bones.'
Ok - that was negative, or maybe it was meant as an optimistic warning, a
reminder to act now rather than judge now;
the power of the good memories we make each day, may be all that is
needed to prevent one of our loved ones, or a stranger that our words or
actions have touched, from going down those 'evil' paths.
So, as this New Year unfolds, my 'to do' list will be
topped by: 'Judge less and make more good
memories'. May they live long after I'm
gone and hopefully my loved ones will be able to repeat Dad's line, "I've
got a million of 'em!"
