Breathe

Isn't it amazing how impossible it is to really own those things that are the most important?

They can't be frozen and stored, or put into a cedar chest. If I try to cling to them they slip right through my fingers like water.

They seem to have no substance at all, yet they are so powerful they can make or break a moment, or a day, or even a lifetime.

From the time I was a very small child I wanted to gather my loved ones up into some compact place and keep them there with me where I thought we were safe.

Of course it doesn't work that way. People grow up, they leave, they die, or simply turn away and the empty spaces seem like vacuous black holes. Spaces that have no substance, but cause incredible pain.

There isn't much that can be done about it. Rushing to fill them, or pretending they don't exist is usually only a stopgap. Sometimes it just prolongs the agony.

Time has a way of dealing with them that is pretty sure fire though.

If I yield to their existence and allow myself to just be, one day I realize that they have not only filled in, but often are full and overflowing.

So when I feel that old panic setting in I tell myself, "Breathe." Just keep on breathing, one breath at a time until I forget to, because something so much better has come along and filled me up.