Ordinary Days

by Linda Ellis, Copyright 2008, www.lindaellis.net

Last night I had a conversation with a friend of mine whose mom has been battling cancer.  She said her mom told her that when my friend was little, they had a set of special dishes, fine china I suppose, that was only used on very, very special occasions.  Her mom said since she has been facing this challenge, those dishes are set on the table on a regular basis and she regrets not using them on even the most ordinary days in the past. 

I began thinking about the phrase, "ordinary day."  So many of us count down the days until our next big event, that we discount those days in between and tend to label them as "ordinary." Often we'll count them down as though they have no value.  "Only 14 days left until..."  If there is nothing special scheduled...no vacation, no holiday, not even a package in the mail, then the day is considered ordinary and we endure it as if it were some sort of task instead of living it to the fullest.  I've begun a new way of thinking in my life and that is that no day should be considered ordinary.  Every morning when the sun rises and you wake up, should be considered special.  In a poem I titled, "Every Single Day," I wrote:  If the span of every lifetime were cut into pieces with a knife, then every single day would be...a single slice of life.

If you view every day as if it were a single slice of life, and not just 24 hours to pass to bring you closer to some special happening or event in your life, then you can learn to appreciate and experience all the life contained within each and every day with which you are blessed.

The definition of the word ordinary is a commonplace condition or situation.  Is there anything common about a sunrise?  Is there anything common about the colors of the leaves changing in the fall?  Is there anything common about the way in which a flock of birds can fly in such a synchronized formation?  Is there anything common about the way a sunburst's perfect pattern appears through the clouds as if designed by some computer program?  All of these magical events, and so many more, happen on ordinary days.  If we learn to realize the uniqueness and beauty found in each day, then we can realize that no day is ever ordinary.

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Linda Ellis

Copyright 2007

Comments

[carole bomar]

I am looking for the poem that is on the other side of the Dash telling me what was between the dash.

[Ella Jackson]

I was recently introduced to your poems. It has awaken me to appreciate my mother who will soon celebrate her 90th birthday. I did not speak to her daily or weekly but you have stimulated in me the joy of appreciation and the value of family. I truly love my mother but it's important for me to share my expressions of that love more frequently.

[Don]

I agree that every day is special and not "ordinary". They become more special to the person with cancer when the doctor says "You have 6 months to live". My Dad had 3-6 months to live, but I wasn't living near him, and was in denial, I guess, about that time, and one day he would not be on this earth. When I did arrive, he was too ill to carry on a conversation. I would have liked to know what he thought about every day when he awoke knowing that each day was closer to the end. I know he was ready, as he had told the doctor that he would not take chemotherapy, and that he had lived a good life, and was ready to go. We aren't guaranteed that we will make it through the next day, so we need to view those days as special, and thank God for His mercy to let us live another day. When I visit his gravesite, and see his "dash", I know how he lived and appreciate him all the more for the good life that the dash represented.