“Living is painful. Without pain, reality would escape us and the lessons the world has for us will go untaught.”
― Jamie Magee
One of my favorite movies is “Somewhere in Time” with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve. He is able to convince himself he is living in a different time and place…until a penny from the current century harshly shocks him back into reality.
I had one of those reality moments earlier today.
The reconstruction is completed after the water damage earlier this year. Today, workers were moving the boxes and furniture back into the house. They had been in an outside storage mobile shed for months.
As I went through some of the boxes, It was somewhat fun and almost like a treasure hunt to find items that had been packed away and unavailable for months. It was fun until reality hit full force. And I caught my breath.
Like Christopher Reeve’s character, I’d been doing well moving on in the 18 months since my late husband passed from cancer. But today, when I lifted a photo and piece of paper from the box through which I was sorting, there it was…
His watch.
It was still keeping time even though it had been a long time since being worn. When I lifted it, the steel band made the same sound I had heard so many mornings when he lifted it from the night stand to put it on. Just as in the movie, memories came flooding back as reality hit me squarely in the face.
I know every day that he is gone and that I’m alone. But today it was a little more painful than usual. The next item was his wallet with the family photos still there where I had seen them every time he opened it. Ouch.
The blessing today was that immediately after this happened, I went to a scheduled mastermind luncheon with wonderful women entrepreneurs. They are dear friends and balm to my soul. I’m so grateful for Faith. Family. Friends.
We will all face pain and loss as we go through life. We will all move on. But on the days when reality slaps you in the face and stings, I pray you also have friends who care.
And that you can be that friend for someone else.
Blessings.