Written by Ordinary Extra – May 26, 2023. Go With The Flow.
A night of broken sleep led to another cool, early morning. I didn’t rest as well as I wanted to but I was better rested than when I went to sleep the night before. I started moving, and praying along the way, to go forward and go with the flow.
If I pray in the morning for God’s pure light to shine through me in all my interactions,
Then why do I have so many thoughts and words that acted upon would be infractions.
The Mad River slowly gains its momentum just below the Campton Dam and Campton Pond.
It was a gorgeous day and I had all kinds of time to think as I made my way through the day. Thoughts of future plans. Thoughts of projets to start or finish, or both. Thoughts of loved ones no longer here. Thoughts of legacy and how long one’s impact may be felt.
Then during a few moments of adversity, I talked myself into smiling and being kind despite being exhausted and frustrated with the scenario I found myself in. I searched for the simplest of things to be thankful for in those critical seconds of human interaction that were woven into the situation I was in. Nothing too serious or alarming, but still needing to be completed.
Campton Pond is created by the Campton Dam on the Mad River.
All things considered, I was tired, sweating profusely and out of breath from the workload. But if I am being honest, I still had plenty left to give, if more giving was needed. So, smiling, kindness, thoughtfulness, and thankfulness poured from me instead of cold shouldered completion. Okay, actually only sweat poured from me. The smiling, kindness, thoughtfulness, and thankfulness was more or less pushed from me by sheer will.
My actions, attention to details and kind demeanor were met with a very small act of kindness from the person I interacted with. I quickly realized that this small act might have been far closer to the maximum of what this person was capable of giving. That hit me and meant a lot.
And that’s just it, I had given of myself plenty, but I knew I had more if needed. This person gave little in comparison, but might have given more based on the resources they had to give. I was humbled and thankful. I did in fact offer to do more, help more, or whatever more, but the work had been completed. And I knew that both of us walked away happy with, and grateful for, one another.
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- Water rushes over the dam like white cords hanging over the edge but connecting to nothing.
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- Looking northeast toward Cone Mountain, Welch Mountain, and Fletcher Mountain.
We live in an age where comparisons are being made 24/7 whether we know it or not. Social media, TV, Internet ads, and many more outlets bombard us all with image. Image as in, this is how the perfect product, or the perfect moment, or even any product in the perfect setting, can make life, well, pretty near perfect.
You know what I am talking about. Pictures of how awesome other people’s life is, at least that is how it is made to look. At some level we all get caught up in the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality. And we think out loud or to ourselves, “Well, my yard, my vacation, my this, or our that doesn’t like nearly as good as theirs”.
So, I am here to spread some ordinary extra moments. These are things that happen in an average day in my little world. Some might resonate, some may not. But the point is, be happy and thankful for what you do have. And sometimes that might just be the ability to think, to breathe, to work, to love, to feel, and so on. There is beauty all around us.
Just an ordinary day with an ordinary extra moment mixed in.
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