The Last

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory

-Dr. Seuss

I started thinking about this post long before our days were consumed with CNN updates and constant reminders to social distance.

A couple of weeks ago, I was leaving work and I stopped for a school bus. The bus was dropping off a little girl to a patient mother. As the bus pulled away, the little girl starting running after the bus, jumping and waving. I felt a little nostalgic thinking of how much Molly had loved her elementary school bus driver and how she, too, would go running and waving down the street as he pulled away. This being her senior year of high school I find myself remembering so many moments of her growing up. It seemed like yesterday we were going to “Meet the Teacher” for Kindergarten.

This has been the year of lasts – last a capella jam, last improv show, last chorus concert. I get a little teary-eyed watching it all unfold.

Then the unexpected happened. Within one short week, schools and our lives were shutdown without any notice. What happens when your lasts are behind you and you didn’t even know it? Molly finally got the lead in her high school musical. We were so excited for her. My mother bought tickets to come to Boston to see her and we were counting the days. Now it is likely to be cancelled and we are left with the memories of previous years. Choral concerts and a cappella Jams might not happen this year and all of a sudden the last jam is all of a sudden really the last jam. Molly’s a cappella group alternates meeting in different members’ homes each rehearsal. Last month it was our turn to host. Coming home and finding all of the shoes piled by my front door and the sound of music pouring out of my living room filled my heart with joy. I was already dreading the silence next year was going to bring when she is out in Nashville. Little did I know, that may have been the last time I would hear their voices ringing throughout the house.

Is there a lesson in all of this? Is there something we are being taught? I believe there is. I have to believe that to get through it. I’ve spoken so many times about how precious each day is. How we have to cherish our todays because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Today, I believe that more than ever. I believe it is important to cherish every opportunity and experience we are given. Who knows if it will be our last? Who knows what tomorrow will bring? All we have is today, this 24 hours, if that. If we live a life of gratitude and appreciation, we can have no regrets for what we might miss in the future. We will always have the experiences and those experiences become our memories.

I believe in living today. Not in yesterday, not in tomorrow.

-Loretta Young