Life leftovers

I know, it does sound like a strange post... just wait till you read it! This post was inspired by a visit to some of my relatives that are close to my heart - my cousins and their kids. I was blessed to be born in a big family...well, not that big. I am a single child at home but my mom has two more sisters and a brother. My cousins are all married and two of them even have kids. I love those kids (one of my cousins has a daughter and the other one has a boy and a daughter), completely adore them...I was amongst the happiest person to hear the big news... felt a connection forming with the kids ever since they were embryos. After they were born I spend like lots of time with them even though they lived pretty far from me... about 30 mins of walking ('cause yeah, I am addicted to walking). I watched them grow, I was there with them at their first day of kindergarten and I didn't miss one recital... I watched them go to school and I was the crazy one cheering when they took their first prize. 

But, as it always happens, the past two years we grew apart...we didn't really grew apart... I just filled my time with other things and stop visiting as often. From the "at least once per week" my visits turned into a ...twice per year. And I thought it was cool like that, until today. I took the time to go visit them with my mom... and it gave my heart fuzzy feelings. I felt so like a stranger at first... I couldn't really fit in anymore (guess that was all in my head after all) but then I relaxed when I saw that my bound with them was just as strong like there wasn't a day when we were apart, they started sharing stories with me like there was a conversation going on all this time. I was surprised to see how much they grew and changed...

They are wiser and taller and ... growing up too quickly. They offered to walk me home (well not really home but a little bit closer to home) and of course being a child deep down inside of me I played with them on the way. We had a running contest, then we played I spy... and I was over flooded with info about their classmates, friends, tv shows and all that, but it also got me thinking...

Memories will be all that's left at the end. That's my concept of life leftover...what's left after you feast from the platter you call life. 

The college degree? You can get that anytime. The money? same with them. The clothes? all these material possessions can be acquired at any given time...but you can't go back in time. You can't go back and live the moments you had once again. Which led me to this conclusion... all I'll still have in this life, close to the ending of it... will be my memories. All those well lived moments and happy ones and the disappointments. I won't be left with anything else to make me feel better... therefore I found another good reason to live the moment...seriously. Forget all about worries and troubles, I wanna have in mind the good memories... of bonding and sharing and loving and becoming wiser. I want every moment of my life to be filled with happiness and bliss. Make the most of each moment and make memories out of them. 

And yeah, even thou I have bits of regrets for not being there for everyone when I could've... or acting like an idiot when I shouldn't have, I do regret the times I hurt those I loved... but I also learned not to over regret things but to learn something from them... after all they made me wiser... what I am today... and today, I can truly say I wish all of you the best. I am happy. I hope all of you are as well ... and if you are on your journey of finding it, I hope I can help you if you need anything.

Live your life, get to know the people around you... make happiness a habit and do not forget to make the most of everything 'cause memories will be all you'll be left with.