I moved back to my hometown after having been gone for almost half a century. A lot has changed, but many things are still the same. Happily, a few old school friends also moved back. Most important, however, is that my family lives close by: my two younger sons, their wives, and my five grandchildren.
The second night after arriving in my new home my two sons, Philip and Stefan, both came by to help me set up a bookshelf and organize the many boxes, which were still scattered all over the place. Once finished, the three of us sat in my newly arranged living room, sipping a glass of champagne, celebrating my “return.” They could only stay for approximately 10 more minutes before they had to leave to go home. Since it was a weekday and they came after work, it was already almost midnight. This, I realized, was a very precious moment! It has been years, maybe decades, since the three of us sat together, just enjoying the very moment. How very precious indeed.
After they left, I stayed in my chair, in the unfamiliar surroundings, my new home. Tears filled my eyes, partly from exhaustion and the many months of preparation, renovating, and driving back and forth from Bern to Zurich. Now I was here. Finally, I had made it. But the tears were also tears of joy and anticipation knowing that I would see my boys more often and have more of these precious moments.
Two months have passed, and I realize that it wouldn’t be quite like I had hoped. My boys have jobs where they work long hours, have their own wife, and children, and in short, just have a very busy life on their own. I had to acknowledge that the special moment on that second day, was a very rare occasion.
With this realization, it became even more precious. The moment opened my eyes and made me aware of how often and not so rare at all, precious moments occur if I catch them as such. Actually, I was encountering such moments almost every day such as:
The friendly new neighbor who brought me a little welcome present saying, “I am so happy you have moved here. You are a great addition to this house.”
The rays of sunlight brightening up my old furniture, making it look new.
The black cat standing at my front door crying for food or attention or just saying, “Hello,” looking into my eyes with a luminous glare giving me a message I still try to understand.
My old-time school friend dropping by taking time to chitchat about old times while sipping tea.
My sister and brother-in-law visiting, bringing me a beautiful flower arrangement.
It came to my mind that I was indeed welcomed home. What a wonderful feeling. Again, being fully aware of such a precious moment.
Thinking back, I searched for other precious moments. And I found many:
I remembered the very moment I saw death come to a friend of mine when visiting his hospital room. Several of us were talking; bringing to mind the happy times we shared with our friend. His wife sat next to his bed holding his hand, her eyes locked on his. But then, someone joked about something and everybody laughed. His wife turned her head towards the person who told the joke. At that precise moment, my friend chose to leave his body. Sitting a little farther away I witnessed his life slipping out of his body. What a precious moment!
The moment I walked into the church to get married and the church bells rang. I was fully aware that they rang just for our wedding.
The moments I gave birth to my children, each time different but each time a very precious moment.
Precious moments are not necessarily always happy moments. They might be sad or painful like:
The moment, when we took our dog to the vet to be put to sleep.
Or the day of my divorce.
These moments might not seem precious in the sense of wanting them to come back. Nevertheless, they were very precious because I learned a lot from them and they made me stronger and wiser.
I could go on and on and find many more such incidents when I was happy or my life was enriched in some way. How then can I not appreciate each day, each hour, each minute, and each second as precious? They are not going to come back. I might be able to try and repeat those wonderful times, but they will never be exactly the same.
I awaken to the realization that each moment is actually such a precious one. I believe life contains only such precious moments since life is nothing but one precious moment itself.