Rituals are important things, they grant us a sense of peace in a troubled world.
One of my favorite rituals is something I share with my wife. Since it means a lot to me, I’m going to share it with you.
Every day that passes, I try hard to tell my wife, “I love you today.”
Some days, when I’m not sure if I have followed this ritual, I’ll ask her, “Did I tell you I love you today?” After giving the question due consideration, she either responds with, “I think you did”, or “Not today.” Since her short term memory is infinitely better than mine I usually bow to her recollection and either say nothing, or correct my lapse by saying, “I love you today.”
Today I failed to follow my ritual before leaving home for work, so instead of asking her directly I sent her a text that read, “Love you today. 🙂”.
She replied by text, as she sometimes verbally does, with “Only today ??”
I am more of a writer than a talker, so her text gave me a chance to frame my thoughts in words. My worded thoughts, {refined, as is an author’s right,} appear below. They try and explain why this particular ritual is important to me. I hope they make you think about love, about the things that are important to you, and about the people and living creatures that make your todays bearable.
Only today… I love you today, for today is the day that truly matters.
Only Tomorrow… Only tomorrow might never come, so do today the things you may not get to do tomorrow.
Only yesterday… I love you every yesterday, for our shared yesterdays are the containers of our deceased todays.
Now let me ask you this. Where do you spend your time – in the present that every today is, or in imagined tomorrows that may never come?
