Aroma of Life..........

“Living is about capturing the essence of things.

 I go through my life every day with a vial, a vial wherein can be found precious essential oils of every kind! The priceless, fragrant oils that are the essence of my experiences, my thoughts. I walk inside a different realm from everybody else, in that I am existing in the essence of things; every time there is reason to smile, I hold out my glass vial and capture that drop of oil, that essence, and then I smile. And that is why I have smiled, and so you and I may be smiling at the same time but I am smiling because of that one drop of cherished, treasured oil that I have extracted. When I write, I find no need to memorize an idea, a plot, a sequence of things: no. I must only capture the essence of a feeling or a thought and once I have inhaled that aroma, I know that I have what I need.” ― C. JoyBell C.

 

 

This weekend off color daughter and I ran a 5 K....yes i will say it for you---big girl running (me not off color daughter)----

  watch out!

We ran in memory of a little boy who used to come to my nephew's birthday parties.   Nathan was energetic and the one image I have of him etched in my memory is that of him splashing around in the pool, laughing and being all "boy " with my nephew and my son.

Nathan also had pulmonary hypertension which

over time began to cause his heart to beat too quickly.  His mom took him to a routine screening where they did a routine heart cath.

Nathan died while on the table.  Every year his mom has a race

called Nathan's Rock and Roll in memory of him and to raise money so other mom's don't have to bury their children because of the same heart ailment.

Every year I look at her memory book--same pictures as last year---and realize that all she has left

are these memories---because the visual images of Nathan stopped on the table---but yet---in a strange sort of way

his touch on life continues

as Big girls run and people gather and walkers walk and skaters skate

 

and

I feel my heart grow heavy....

and

then I watched his family...

they laughed and joked and celebrated life in the midst of their continuing grief---they even had a super crazy loud friend there who could out scream the person using the megaphone...She was vivacious and full of energy--funny and at times even obnoxious---but she kept the party rolling.  Our niece and Mama Dee met us there but Maddie and I really wanted to try to run--so niece Sarah and Mama Dee were walking buddies and off color daughter and I took off....

okay---we did not run the entire race---

but

we tried to run as much as we could--it was at Keeneland Race Track---and was a really hilly run---

I did alot of my running on the downhill

so I could get the max out of my Big Girl Running.

As I ran,

I could smell the dry soil stirring from the horses running around the track,

could smell my sweat as it dripped down my face,

could smell breakfast cooking in the jockey kitchen as I passed

and

at one point

caught the scent of grass being cut mixed in with something that smelled like lavender and it all invited me to

remember that I was alive...

 

Life smells...

tells us alot about people...

alot about life....

One time

I decided I was going to visit

a friend of mine from seminary who lives outside Chicago.

I did not want to drive, so I decided to take

the Greyhound and then once in Chicago,

I took the train for several hours to her house.

Riding the Greyhound bus was quite the experience....

people of all kinds,

traveling...

I remember thinking...

this is quite the experience..

I don't that I'll ever do it again...

but

I remember sitting on the bus in Indianapolis

and

as the bus was loaded,

I closed my eyes...

as folks of various colors and cultures walked by...

I could tell where they were from

by

the smell that passed,

garlic and oil,

arabic spices

asian smells of chinese cooking,

varying body odors mixed in with

the smell of the work they did.

 

Yes....Life has an aroma...

it drifts around

moving

and

when we think about it

pay attention to it..

that fragrance teaches us...

to LIVE...

 

Even bad odors tell us

about

life...

off color daughter and I went our running before sunrise

the other morning...

she of course left me behind

and so

every so often,

she would text me updates about where she was turning

or what street she was on....

at one point

I get the following:

 

"dead possum on the sidewalk...careful"

 

I kept watching...

I off course did not want to have dead possum guts on my new running shoes....

I didn't see it

and wondered where it was

and

suddenly...

without rhyme or reason...

I knew...

because I could smell

that musty odor rotting flesh,

.....

and

suddenly

there it was

dead possum on the sidewalk..

 

Life moves along

we journey

and

ever so often

we take a moment to breath in deeply

and

smell

that aroma of life

and it teaches us...

 

reminds us if you will

to

LIVE

 

Have a great week...

blessings and hugs..

 

the radical rambler