In Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, Emily, the central character, has died in childbirth. She is allowed to come back to earth to revisit one day in her life. She has been warned it will be more than she can handle, but she decides to do it anyway.
She chooses to come back on the day she turned 12. She watches herself and her family for a bit and can’t take anymore–-it’s just too much. It’s too much to see all the things she took for granted while she was alive, things she yearns for now that she can no longer have them…simple little things like her mother… and father… and eating…and sleeping… and flowers… and hot baths. She had thrown it all away by not paying attention when she had the chance.
I saw that play when I was 12 years old, and it taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. So I was delighted to discover that the site every, every minute is based on one of Emily’s lines:
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every, every minute?
Bob, the author, explains, “With this blog, I am trying to fully ‘realize’ my life by documenting the things that I love.” And that, I think, is blogging at its best…honoring the things we love by writing about them and sharing them with others. Writing helps us wake up to those precious moments that go by all too fast.
Photo by Tryne via Flickr. Creative Commons license.
16 comments ↓
Thank you so much! Another great thing about blogging is that we get to meet and exchange ideas with our fellow bloggers. I’m very happy to have met you this way.
Thanks again! I hope you have a great day.
“Another great thing about blogging is that we get to meet and exchange ideas with our fellow bloggers.”
Just yesterday after a speaking engagement, I was approached by an 80-year-old woman. I had just been talking about some of the very things you mentioned in your post. She shared that about ten years ago, she was diagnosed with a serious disease. She decided to make a giant list of all the things she had hoped to do “some day.” Her eyes were filled with such joy as she described all of the wonderful things she did, including going to Italy to watch the opera. Amazingly, she no longer has the disease. Your post, and this woman’s story make me wonder why it usually takes some sort of tragic event to get people to stop and appreciate the little things.
Thanks for sharing that story , Kim and Jason, I also enjoyed your blog…the video was inspiring.
I’ve never seen the play, but the sentiment is very inspiring. Just today I got got up in a complaint-spiral, letting the “things” of life take the joy out of my day. Now as I sit looking out the front door at the deer peacefully grazing outside, I wonder what in the world I was so upset about.
It’s wonderful to get a reminder not to take one wonderful moment like that for granted – I mean how many people get to look out their window and see wildlife so close? It’s awesome!
Beautiful post Jean.
[...] Jean Browman, the Cheerful Monk, writes about the importance of not taking life for granted in living every, every minute. [...]
[...] Living Every, Every Minute [...]
“The Power of Now” is a great book serving as a reminder for this.
Great post Jean!
Recent books like Jodi Picoult’s bestseller, 19 Minutes, reinforce the importance of savoring every moment. That story offers reasons why we would all benefit from stepping back and thinking more about why we do things and when. After all, we tend to experience a disconnect that causes us to miss out on simple reasons why life is potentially so joyful.
My 7 yr. granddaughter from Sweden, coming down the stairs like an actress, doing a dance, & Hoola Hoop to the music of the singing lobster (like the singing fish) while her audience watches. Then her carnival; swiping a card through the bristles on a brush & giving us our tickets. A ride: being spun around on a swivel chair. “Which picture you want?” English is hard for her. Shows me 10 pictures that she made of faces with decorations . I find out that the picture I picked will be my face painting that she will do, etc.— Grandkids are such fun!
[...] and attention to appreciate what we have, to be able to do what’s truly important to us. (See Living Every, Every Minute.) For me it sometimes meant doing things that society doesn’t admire, like taking ten years [...]
Jean,
What beautiful writing! I had recently read Rummusers 1000
marbles. That was a great story! And you mentioned this play.
It reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart Movie were he going to commit suicide and the angel grants him his wish. And all he wants is to get back home and be it again. I can’t remember the name of it? Count your blessings! And life is precious!Thank You!
Diane,
Thank you! The movie was It’s a Wonderful Life.
I stumbled accross this place the other day and I’m really glad I did. Nice work!
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