Yes, it is the battle of the spring. How warm does it have to be to fling open the windows and blow out the stink and germs of a long winter? How long can you leave the windows open before turning on the air conditioning? How long can you leave the windows open before closing them on a cold night? Let’s not even go into turning the furnace back on. This is only one blog post.
Yet, there is a parallel to life here. You see, or maybe you don’t, too many of us are looking for life to finally clear up so that “things can get back to normal.” We want this to pass or that to come and go and then, “everything will be fine.” You may even think, “Once we get through x,y,z it will be smooth sailing.” However, it doesn’t ever really end up that way does it? Turns out when annoying event “A” is done, tragedy “B” rears it’s ugly head. Granted, many of us are on tragedy “Q” and annoying event “YY” but I digress.
We fall into the false premise that life is supposed to be easy and secure. Country music artist Lynn Anderson famously sang, “I never promised you a rose garden.” Life sings that to us every day, we just don’t listen. More poignantly Erma Bombeck mused, “If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I in the pits?” We keep hoping for this ever evasive yet entitled life of peace and smooth sailing. We get frustrated, hurt, chagrined, and even angry at…life. We keep waiting, waiting, enduring, surviving, hoping for that Camelot to arrive. Yet, it does not.
May I propose a different outlook? While not dismissing the hurts of every day and detaching from the grief and necessary (1 c, 2 s’s in necessary) comfort of life’s tragedies, we need a different perspective. I have found the way to look at life is through open windows. When you look around and realize that at this time, for this moment, things are ok, fly through that open window! You see, that is all that it is, a window in time. You want to take a trip? Go. You want to experience something? Do it! You need to rest? Good night. Realize this, the window will close.
Please don’t fear that window closing or you will miss the fresh smell of the air and the cool breeze that it brings (insert pollen joke/analogy killer here). Stop looking through that window and wondering why it doesn’t stay open, it just doesn’t and never was supposed to be permanent. It is only the “guh” of the annoying event and weeping of the tragedy that enable us to embrace the glory and gift that is the the respite of an open window.
For us, I believe that the window is open. The battle for Trey is complete. Yes, we are and will be forever healing and growing from the repercussions of said battle, but the shoe did drop…hard. Do we expect smooth sailing from here on out? No. What will be next? I don’t know but I’m not going to sit in fear waiting for it to come. I and we are diving through that open window and enjoying this time and the time ahead…as long as that window stays open.