The things I would miss...

In high school we did a play based on the shootings at Columbine. At the time it was a huge deal, you didn't hear about guns at school, shootings or things like that...at least not as much as you hear about today. In the play there was a scene where all the kids who were shot and killed went around in a circle and told their shooter what they would miss because their life was cut so short. I have always looked back on that play whenever I enjoy a simple freedom or a small pleasure. Knowing that some have that cut short, but also marvel in the fact that I know the truth of things and know it won't be gone forever.
I appreciate that our drama teacher saw the need for the school to see the violence and thought us good enough to carry out such an emotional task. It was a year of several emotional plays because right after the Columbine play I was in another about the Holocaust war, which inevitably touched me deeply as well as the play the other drama class put on about the Vietnam war. All three plays were not light hearted and were definitely made to make an impact and make you think. How the audience reacted or what they remember of those plays, if anything, I will never know but the profound effect it had on me is still felt almost 9 years later. Especially when reading CNN or watching the news with the devastation in other countries and the hurt and trouble in our own.
Sometimes it is easy to turn a blind eye and worry about our simple problems like housework and new tires on the car...but every once in a while the world comes swooshing in my little bubble and I am reminded I am not the only one on this planet nor am I the worst off...not my a long shot! It is humbling and a slap in the face and with the lump in my throat I remember the play in high school and the scene where the kids say what they would miss, and I mentally go through the list in my head. Which as time has gone by, my list has changed profoundly, some things are the same but others things have fallen off my list with little thought as new ones replace their importance. So here is a list of things I would miss, just to name a few:

Afternoon naps
Books of all kinds
having to freedom to walk into a store and buy anything I want (whither I can afford it or not)
Driving..to anywhere
Inside jokes with my family
Pride you get when you help someone, especially when they don't know you have
The feel of warm dry clothes after an exhausting day playing in wet, cold, snow!
Getting or sending a card to someone in the good ole' snail mail....for no reason at all but to get or give one.
Chocolate milk
Watching my Brothers and Sisters grow up
My Fathers loving blessings and advice
My Mothers jokes and serious and funny talks and advice
My Husbands face when he bites his cheek because he is thinking of something or his look when I know he either wants to kiss me or tickle me (it is always a surprise which one he will do).
My Daughters laugh and her big bear hugs along with her sassy attitude when she things she knows it all.
The undeniable pride, love and belonging I feel when I look at my family and know they will be mine for the rest of forever.

These are just a few and I know the list goes on. I feel such sadness and pain for those who have lost so many and so much in the last few weeks, with the cyclone and the earthquakes and it humbles me to know how utterly blessed I am to have all my family and to live in this country. Would I be able to face what they have and continue? That thought is something I hope and pray will never be tested for me or for anyone I love. but I would hope that everyone would remember the things they would miss if they were suddenly taken away. If you made a list, would it be the tires on the car, the purse you bought, that movie you can't wait to buy on blue ray and DVD just to make sure? probably not, while they do bring us a small amount of joy in our lives, remember the things you would truly miss and pay more attention to those small but inconceivably in-valuables. Like I said, I don't remember these things as much as I should and often get caught up in the worlds world, but everyone once and while I remember what I am really here for and what really matters. Today is one of those days and I hope they still continue even 30 and 50 years from now.