monday morning encouragement

Life happens so quickly. I’m coming up on my 6th year of blogging. My brother & his wife have almost been married for 5 years. I did my first styled photo shoot 4 years ago. My grandpa died 3 years ago. My niece is almost 2, & it was less than 1 day ago that I spent the entire day with my grandma in our favorite place. Five, four, three, two, one. Life passes so quickly. Things you feel like you’ve waited a long time for come & go. Moments that you can’t believe you’re living turn into memories that we try hard not to forget. Time is truly such a weird thing that we simply have no control of. No matter how hard we may ask the sun to not rise just yet, it still does on it’s own accord. We can’t freeze seconds, we can’t store minutes, & we can’t get hours back. Your life will soon be close to it’s end, & that’s just a simple truth.

Earlier this week I drove my grandma out to where my mom grew up, where my uncle is buried, & to where my grandpa’s tombstone lives. I’m not trying to be morbid. I’m trying to tell you a story of life. Because as we drove my grandma told me stories of her & my grandpa when they first got married, stories of when they had my mom & her siblings, stories of the town & how it had changed, & stories of when my parents got married.

Have you ever truly sat down & listened to the stories of your grandparents? Because their stories are so real & raw, & glorious.

I have always loved spending time with my grandparents & listening to all the things they’ve had to say. I’ve heard some of the same exact stories over time, sometimes because they forgot that they’ve already told them to me, & sometimes because I like to hear them again. There is something so special to me about hearing a memory told by someone who was years ago once young in a time I can only dream about. I don’t think many people tend to value the older generations in their life, or in the world for that matter. I think most of us are so worried about advancing in life & changing & making things better. But, for me, it’s always so refreshing to hear a story from a time before myself & technology existed, to hear someone’s memory in their own words from a time when things were different because it helps me to see that things aren’t always as bad as they seem. It reminds me that everyone has different paths in life & that we have a long time to get where we need to be. Change is great & needed, but humans are still very much the same & so relatable.

When my grandma was my age she had been married for almost 7 years & had given birth to four babies. She recently said to me on the subject, “Who knows if that was what I was supposed to do, but I did it, & who knows what life would be like if I had done things differently.” It reminded me that it’s okay for us to all live lives that look so different. We’re all still going to grow old & wonder what life would be like if a few of our decisions were made differently. And that’s okay.

You’ll still feel pain when you’re old. You’ll still miss people when you’re old. You’ll still want freedom & independence when you’re old. You still won’t believe how quickly & how slow life passes by when you’re old. When you’re old, you’ll have so many stories to tell. Are you living the kind of life now that you know someone will want to hear about someday? I hope so, because if not, then you’re wasting the gift of life that’s been given to you.

Always know that your life tells an overall story. Make sure you’re a good author who is telling it well.

– abbey kay

*brought to you by a girl who wishes she could hear another story she’s already heard from her grandpa just one more time, but loves that her grandma has stories to still tell