At times I can be pretty high strung and easily upset. I was unable to attend Papa’s (grandpa) funeral because my mother said she “couldn’t handle me”!
One funeral I never got to attend because it was thousands of miles away in a different country on a different continent was Peter’s.
Peter was a friend I met when I was in Russia…in St. Petersburg. A 19-year-old college student studying quantum physics – the day we were walking on the streets of the city, and he was trying to explain it to me with his British accent was hilarious – and a musician – which is how he met.
Two days before my group was scheduled to head back to the States, I spent the evening at his home talking and playing music. When it came time to go home, Peter ever the gentleman, escorted me back across the city. But as we were waiting for the final bus after the subway ride, he wass hit by a car. I lost three years of Russian in about three seconds. The last time I saw him was at the hospital.
Before leaving the country on Friday, we called to find out how he was and he appeared to be doing better – he had three cerebral hematomas – and I was hopeful.
But once I finally got back to Florida, I learned that he had died. I was devistated!
And it goes without saying, a big mess!
One night at work he came to me…or at least his ghost did. The clothes he wore were not the ones I saw him in last so it wasn’t my imagination trying to work overtime to ease my mind. I SAW him!
And he stayed with me for some time; leaving work, walking to the bus in the dark, riding the bus for a while.
It was his way to say goodbye – something we never got to do.
After that, I still had my bad days…and still do, but things were better and I could make it through the day – mostly – without falling apart.
As much as I wish, I have never seen him again…or any other ghost; but there is no way anyone will ever convince me that what I saw wasn’t the essence of Peter!
That was in 1993.
The Red Dress You Never Wore
I had a red dress hanging in my closet for years.
Every time I saw it, I thought, “I’ll wear it on the right occasion.”
I kept waiting for the perfect moment.
But then I realised something.
We do this with so many things in life.
We wait for the perfect day.
The perfect opportunity.
The perfect time to start.
We save the things we love for a future moment that may never arrive.
But life is not happening in the perfect moments we keep waiting for.
It is happening right now.
Wear the dress.
Take the trip.
Make the call.
Say the words.
Do not save your happiness for a day that is not promised.
Because sometimes the ordinary day you are living today is the moment you were waiting for all along.
#RealTalk #LifeLessons #Mindset #Gratitude #Growth