Cherish-as a verb

They say “cherish every moment”, “live like you’re dying”, “be present” when a loved one heads into the light. We are blanketed by comforting words such as these. We stop and reflect on our own lives when things like this happen. We reflect on decisions we made big and small. We try and reconfigure relationships with others that need kindling or nourished. We spread our arms out to others for comfort. We realize that we need to cherish every moment, and we start doing it. We stop and stare at the sunset displayed across our backyards instead of just acknowledging it. We play every point like it is the last point we will every play. We huddle up and break it down like no other. We give out positive affirmations to our teammates, coaches, friends, and classmates because they matter to us.

Months go by and life gets busy. We are back to our daily grind. We are head-down in our phones while carrying post work conversations with our partners. We try and end personal conversations with our parents with “fine & ok”. We get too tired to visit friends and family and sometimes we forget our elder neighbors who may not have many hands to hold. In between these two worlds cherishing gets diluted . We forget how quick life can change. We forget how precious every encounter may be. For me, it’s small remembrance of loved ones, friends, and family that remind me to cherish every moment- truly. For me, it’s practicing to let things go. The small things don’t matter. Cherish what you can’t replace. You can’t replace time and you can’t replace people. Cherish, as a true verb takes practice. It takes practice to have patience with your parents and to actually have a conversation after practice or school with them (they just care). It takes practice to realize work can wait. It takes practice to forgive yourself for all the times you didn’t cherish something or someone. I think, our angels want us to practice cherishing each other and cherishing life…not by just saying it but actively doing it.