The best things in life
March 17th 2009 06:37
There is a question doing laps of my mind and refusing to leave. The one good thing is that I get some relief from Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which has been on permanent relay in my head for approximately 37 years, but I'm beginning to wish I had the music back. At least I don't have to think about that.
The question is this: if I made a list of the 100 most important things that have happened in my life, would any of those things not be a person?
Do you see what I mean? The most important thing that ever happened to me was my daughter; the second best thing my wife; the third my mother (the worst thing that could ever happen to me what be my mother's wrath if I put her any further down the list).
I have lived for quite a while, I have lived in several countries on three continents, and I have met many wonderful people. They have shaped my life. Without the people in our lives, does the rest even make sense?
I'm not sure. I keep thinking of events that surely must rank amongst the 100 most important things that have happened to me. Take, for example, the birth of my daughter. I mean the episode, as an experience detached from the related person. I was there. No other event in my life has evoked such profound feelings; no words can describe those feelings. And yet, can I rank this event as more important than one of the many fabulous people I have been lucky enough to know?
What about the first time I read Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge? This not only started me on a lifetime love affair with the writing of the great man, it opened my eyes to the works of other generations (I was an intolerant youth) and writing styles. My life would have been very different without this moment, but can it be more important than the legacy of a human relationship?
What about the first time I:
- Saw a falling star or a rainbow
- Saw snow
- Saw my mother cry
- Beat my father at chess
- Got Lego for Christmas
- Rode a bike
- Hit a cricket ball over the fence
- Was kissed romantically (it wasn't me taking the lead; I was a shy youth)
- Got a job
- Got fired
- Drove a Porsche 911
- Tasted merlot
- Met a German shepherd dog
- Bought a house
- Saw Paris (or Vienna or London or New York or Uluru)
- Came face to face with my parents' mortality
- Came face to face with my own mortality
These things, and no doubt many more that will come to me immediately after I click the button to post this ramble, are defining moments. Some of them introduced me to lifelong interests; all of them have star status on the stage of my memory.
But can any of them replace a human being on my top 100 list? I think ... not. What do you think?
image: www.missouriskies.org
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Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I wouldn't know about the feeling of this one.
But no. The family and the friends around me (as cliche as it sounds) are really what keeps me going.
PS I wouldn't mind tasting the feeling of driving a Porche though - at least once!
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
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Artist Quirk
although the thing i like about time is that is mellows all your memories so even an excruciating experience can somehow seem funny when the right amount of time has passed
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
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Comment by Janice M Cali
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Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists