To Laugh Often…

I wrote this over a year ago and recently discovered that I never published it.  In a moment of reflective appreciation I tried to capture the sentiments of an anniversary.  Although late, it still holds today as it did then:

To laugh often…

It has been a year since the collective sigh of relief at Portia’s pathology report. It has been a remarkable year, an unexpected high point in our lives. Who would guess that at our particular age we would have the experience of a renewed life and love while renovating a home for it to thrive within?

We are still crazy-in-love, a completely unexpected experience; one might think the passion would die down, but it carries on. We can only wish it for everyone; we urged all at our commitment ceremony to renew it with the one they share their lives with. Time is short.

We are learning that the risks of life build up, eventually to certainty, and many of our elders and now some of our cohorts have encountered their ends. It is sad for us remaining. I like to envision my friends and relations at the prime of their life, at the height of their interactions with the people close to them. Photographs, memorabilia and old letters provide time-travel to a moment that represents their peak vitality, a moment we would all like to think of ourselves at; an identity marker.

We pass through this life in our unique ways, and the measure of it is our impact on each other. I recently encountered an expression of this that I had forgotten. Before I forget it again:

“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

(Attributed to) Ralph Waldo Emerson