If, on your deathbed,

[PrinceMyshkin]

you were asked to say what had made your life a gift beyond measure, what would that be?

[motherhubbard]

I know that this sounds corny, but the time I have had with my family has been a treasure to me. There is a vast multitude of nanoseconds that compile to make one’s life what it is- or maybe it is how we react to all of those particles of experience. As a child I did not realize and could not appreciate the time I had at home with my family. Now that I have my own children I have a clearer understanding of the true meaning of family. I understand what I am to my parents and siblings because I know what my children are to me. There are a million tiny instances that I hold and treasure. Moments of extreme joy or sorrow alike. Moments that have made me grow. I love this process of becoming that my family and I go through together.

[CdnReader]

Wow! I'm really not good at talking about myself in this frame of reference, but I think that I'm setting an example for my granddaughter (and for a lot of other people of my acquaintance as well) about the value of following your dreams, and what wonderful things can happen if you're brave enough to step out into the world and grab the future that's right for you, rather than just passively accepting the one that just happens to come along.

[motherhubbard]

very true CDN- I think what you are doing is wonderful.

[Oniw17]

Nothing; I've done done nothing in my life of any significance to anyone outside myself thus far.

[NikolaiI]

Prince can't ask this question on the Ask the Person Below You thread, he has to come here and make a whole thread out of it!!! :D You know I love you, Jer.

Hm...Oni's statement helps me think about it...it's a deep question. Who knows what the rest of my life will be? I want to spend some time with my family, I have a younger half-sister (5) and a cousin who's 3 or so now. And I have other cousins, I need to see them sometime. As for the rest of my life, I want to live one that is near-ascetic or monastic.

I think I would be known for my bongo ability. j/k :)

[CdnReader]

Thanks, MH. :)

And what about thee, Prince Myshkin? What shall be thy legacy?? ;)

[PrinceMyshkin]

I know that this sounds corny, but the time I have had with my family has been a treasure to me. There is a vast multitude of nanoseconds that compile to make one’s life what it is- or maybe it is how we react to all of those particles of experience. As a child I did not realize and could not appreciate the time I had at home with my family. Now that I have my own children I have a clearer understanding of the true meaning of family. I understand what I am to my parents and siblings because I know what my children are to me. There are a million tiny instances that I hold and treasure. Moments of extreme joy or sorrow alike. Moments that have made me grow. I love this process of becoming that my family and I go through together.

I can't imagine why you call your response "corny" when heartwarming might have seemed more appropriate to me! And I used to worry that my children might never know how deeply I love them, but now that they have their own children, I hope they better appreciate what they have meant & still mean to me.


Thanks, MH. :)

And what about thee, Prince Myshkin? What shall be thy legacy?? ;)

If I were to answer that, I would say that far away having my children, and now my grand-children has made and continues to make my life richer and happier than I could have imagine it.

Second has been certain moments when I've been writing fiction or poetry and I've put something down that seemed so right that I felt justified in my existence.

Third has been the experience of falling or being in love.

[motherhubbard]

I knew that you would get around to answering Jerry. I have to say this is just what I expected from you. I'm glad I wasn't disappointed.

[Shalot]

i'd say my husband :nod:

[firefangled]

You ask me to name the treasure dearest among all the treasures of my life. After so many years I have come to realize that I have had no bad treasure, no injustice that has not lead me to a better place, no pain that has not brought me, in time, to a priceless gem. And that today I am answering your question about such a thing, how can I not thank what road brought me here.
There is no love I have ever felt and lost for a person or an animal that has not taught me the breadth of love and that it is truly the substance and the binding of all things visible and invisible. And this realization is all we are here for in the end, and everything along the way a glorious consequence, so much so that if this knowing comes with our last breath, all else becomes worthwhile. So the treasure that has made all this possible was being born.

[NikolaiI]

Fire, does it make sense when I sometimes think that every moment is building to something? Could that just be the nature of the equation?

[firefangled]

Fire, does it make sense when I sometimes think that every moment is building to something? Could that just be the nature of the equation?


That is the way it seems to me now. And now is the only place from which I could respond to Jerry's question.

In Eastern philosophy there is a practice of indifference. This does not mean don't care about anything or anyone, it just means that the nature of the equation, as you put it, is never level or all one thing or the other. Balance comes from inside us. The world has to be made of negative and positive events. It is the nature of creation. The balance we want does not come from trying to balance everything in the world according to our perceptions. The world is balanced, no matter what it may seem at any one given point in time. The first mistake in that way of seeing is time itself.

The balance is achieved by me inside by not being so egotistical as to believe that I think I can bring balance to the world from outside. If I can't balance my own emotions and responses, I will never be able to help anyone or make a difference in anything. I will only wage little wars in my own life or large wars elsewhere trying to "restore order."

On the Last Whole Earth Catalogue on the back cover was a photograph of the earth taken from the moon. The caption under it read, "We can't put it together, it is together."

[Granny5]

Jerry, that's an easy question since mh has answered it for me. Family is the dearest, most precious treasure in my life. Poppy, the kids, and I are all very close friends and we always have so much fun when we're together. And we know without doubt that we all love each other unconditionally. We have had the same problems that other families have had but we've grown closer from them. Our extended family, good friends, and our family members who have passed on are just icing on the cake of our lives. We have a good life, even with the negatives that every family endures.

[andave_ya]

Well, if you'll accept the words of a (relative) youngster...

Being an introvert and a Christian, on my deathbed I believe my greatest treasure would be that I can say "I have fought the fight and won the race," and can go Home in uttermost peace that I have done my part in making people's lives better and in witnessing to them and that God will take care of the rest in a more than satisfactory manner. Basically, my greatest treasure is that I am not afraid of death because though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Christ strengthens me.

Does this make sense, or do I sound like a superior teenager?:(

[motherhubbard]

andave ya, I think it sounded wonderful.

[Niamh]

being able to see the true beauty of the country i was lucky enough to be born in and apreciate.