Tuesday, February 26, 2008

6 Word Memoirs

You might have already heard about the book of six-word memoirs called Not Quite What I Was Planning. (There's a neat little video on the Amazon page that gives you the gist.)

I started thinking about what mine would be.

I could focus on my inability to dress myself (pants are black; socks are brown) or my not-so-inner child (32 and still play with Transformers).

If I consider the general course of my life, I'm more likely to say: Ridiculously lucky; don't deserve all this.

But maybe more accurately: Frequently get distracted from what's important.

That last one's a bit too accurate. I get distracted so easily. I can bury myself in a hobby or project. I can get carried away in an argument -- in either sense of the word. It's so easy to focus on the next twenty minutes when the next twenty years matter so much more.

And then there are the times I push my kids off so I can do something of minimal importance when I should jump at the chance to dance with Cinderella.

Since we've moved, I've had a little trouble getting back into the groove of blogging. Instead I've spent more time with my kids and helped around the house a bit more. While I hope to get more regular about posting, I don't think I'm going to let it take up quite as much time as I used to.

I'm also going to try to refocus on those things that matter forever, to fix my eyes on the unseen. I want to remember that more important than winning a fight is loving my wife and better than winning an argument is winning a soul.

At the end of my days, I want my six-word memoir to say: "Old is gone; new has come."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you have the opportunity to Dance with Cinderella you should take it.

Fifteen years ago I sat by Cinderella's bed as she passed over from life to life after death due to neurablastoma.

Oh Death where is thy victory? Oh Death where is thy sting?

ChrisB said...

I can't imagine...

Thank you for reminding us how short our time can be.