SHARED
THOUGHTS – 17.07.2016
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How does one
define a ‘home’ as different from a ‘house’?
I just
returned from the airport, bidding ‘adieu’ to daughter & family… returned to
the emptiness of a home that now is merely housing me until the sparks of a
home are rekindled.
As if saying
“bon voyage” day before to my dear wife was not enough, today, it was seeing
off the lovely three girls of my life here, on their vacation for the next
several weeks.
Home is where
there is no order, nothing is where it should be, bits of paper all over,
ruffled sheets and pillows in the hall, broken toys and toys waiting to be
broken, sippers half full with honey & milk, fondly called by the 2 year
old as “oneanmilk”, slippers and shoes in all corners, half eaten lollipops
left discarded on the table, peeled orange (“olange”) chewed half, wet panty
here and a drenched T shirt there, my orderly work desk under ‘friendly’ attack
…and above all, the squealing screams of the young throats reverberating across
the walls, intermingled with bursts of laughter and giggles…. et al. !! this
was the scene the other day and today, it is all quiet and still.
The
metamorphosis from a home to a house is simply put, the absence of laughter and
presence of ‘order’. I can leave my book-mark at a spot I know it will be there
for days, or my lap top open and I know the keys will be left untouched. I
yearned for this ‘order’, when it was ‘perfect storm’ at home, now I hate this
‘order’ when it is still and quiet all over the house.
Billy Graham
said, “My Home is in Heaven. I am just travelling through this world.”.
Well, for me,
heaven is my home, with all its short comings, because God lives here within
the innocence of the laughter, God lives here within the pure pristine Love we
share.
Can we ever
say, we’ve had enough of laughter, enough of good times, enough of joy in the
company of loved? All good things in life come with no measure. We want
those ecstatic moments to linger long and never to end.
I read, of a
father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had
announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the
father said, “I love you, and I wish you enough”. The daughter replied, “Dad,
our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I
wish you enough, too, Dad”. They kissed and the daughter left.
A person
standing close enough to hear of the final farewell wishes asked the father,
“when you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, I wish you enough.. may I ask
what that means?”
He began to
smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My
parents used to say it to everyone.”
He paused a
moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail.. and he smiled even
more. “When we said, I wish you enough, we were wanting the other person to
have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.” He
shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you
enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you
enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you
enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough
pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you
enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you
enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you
enough hellos to get you through the final good bye.
He then began
to cry and walked away.
So be it in
our life too. We live with hardly a thought, that each moment we laugh and play
with our children and grand children, are precious moments that have just gone
by, never to return. Therefore, it’s all the more important that each moment is
lived happy enough with each other. Long after these days fade into
memory, only to be recalled when the toddlers of today are in their teens or
parents themselves, as my daughter is now, we will realize those were days that
were heavenly.. just as today is too… and all the players in it make each day,
a real heaven.
Where is
home? Home is where the heart can laugh without shyness. Home is where the
heart’s tears can dry at their own pace… Vernon Baker.
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Have a safe & peaceful week ahead.
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