Appreciate the little things

I often start my days in front of the fireplace with a cup of coffee.

My dog loves this ritual in the morning and he comes to me with the expectant look of an impending back-scratch. We all love rituals.

As I was sipping my coffee recently, I was thinking back on not only my own life but also on the lives of others. I’ve volunteered for Central Okanagan Hospice Association over the years and one of my roles was to lead grief sessions for those who lost their spouse.

I lost my wife 12 years ago, so I came to the “job” with an awareness of, and compassion for, those who attended my sessions. When we talked about what we missed most about our life before our partners died, it was never the expensive boat we bought, the addition to the cottage, the new car or anything of monetary value—even if we made these purchases together—it was always the little things like arguing about who was getting up to feed the baby, the inside joke only the two of us knew or the coffee we shared in the morning. Little rituals.

Inevitably, someone in the group would lament that they hadn’t fully appreciated those moments at the time. But we can, and we should. It’s precisely all those little moments that add up to become our lives.

Let’s not waste another second. Appreciate all the remarkably unremarkable moments in our lives.

Chris Loewen, Kelowna