One Day

I want you to read the following very slowly and take a moment to really let it sink in :

“Imagine one selected day struck out of your life and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.” This is a quote from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Please do read it again…

Could you imagine how different the course of your life’s journey would be, if one selected day was struck out of your life. What if that day was the day you conceived your first child? What if that day was the day you met the love of your life? What if that day was the day you made the choice to get married, to spend the rest of your life with someone you adored and who adored you?

If anyone reading this article right now, has watched the tv series One Day on Netflix, you’ll see where I first heard this quote. You’ll understand the scene and the story behind that scene and I truly hope that it resonated as deeply with you, as it did with me. If you haven’t yet watched the series, please do yourself a favour and make time to watch it. It’s a story of deep love, friendship and connection – of choices and mistimed opportunities.

The majority of us take our relationships very seriously. But sometimes, it just takes watching a great movie or reading a great book, to highlight just how important those special connections that we make are in our life.

I for one, cannot imagine one single day being struck out of my life. I would absolutely hate if somehow, any one person that has played a role in my life, would not be there for that one day being struck from my life – altering the entire course of the history of my existence. Every person that I have in my life right now; who have been in my life – in some instances, since the day I was born; are all incredibly important to me. When I heard this quote, I immediately thought of my family. My children and my grandchildren. I could never imagine a life without them in it. My siblings and my beautiful cousins – of which there are many – my life would be so incomplete if they were not a part of it.

When I think of all these wonderful relationships in my life, I can see the long chain of iron and gold, thorns and flowers, that have linked our lives. Those incredibly special moments we have spent together. All the beautiful memories of wonderful joyful moments shared. But, in the mix too, the moments of sadness and loss that we’ve shared as well. It’s every single thing that has come together to make up our joint lives. It’s a million little things, all residing within me, that all contribute to the iron and gold, thorns and flowers – that complex chain of interlinked and intertwined lives. And that is so very special to me.

My greatest hope for you today, is that you read through this quote and allow it to sit with you. And as it sits with you, feel the emotions that lie so deep within your soul – those emotions that are linked to the connections of the many special people who are in your life, who have come and gone. The part that they have played. Think about the course your life would have taken if just that one selected day was struck from your life. I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t change a thing!