Normal days

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in my pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.
~Mary Jean Iron~

This quote really touched me. I was brought back to the days right after 9/11. I felt like I had, up until that time, taken for granted all the things that were normal in my life. I just wanted normal again.

I wondered if things would ever be as they were. I was filled with fear over another, even more devastating attack. I listened to way too much news on TV and found myself petrified over an anthrax attack.

At the time, I was a stay-at-home mom and had an 16 month old, an almost three year old, a 12 year old and a 16 year old. My days were rote and filled with driving kids to school (preschool, middle school, high school), making dinner for a large family every night and the boredom and isolation that comes with not having a job outside the home.

It wasn't until the attack that I realized how beautiful that life was. It was a life free of fear and full of promise for my future and that of my children. It had all changed in one horrible day.

At this time, we have a resident dying of Lou Gehrig's disease. She is 57 years old and we are watching her die, bit by bit, every day. How she must long for normal and does she reflect back on the days when she complained about having to get up to go to work now that she is completely paralyzed and dependent upon others for the smallest tasks.

The "rare and perfect" tomorrow may never come. I shall enjoy my normal while I am still able.