Gentle Reader,
Enjoyed an evening out, so no chat for me.
Linking up with Kate and the crowd. We: celebrate.
Go.
We don’t party enough.
I can see your faces now. The horror. I can hear the gasps. “Oh, no! She’s descending into a pit of licentiousness! Close the laptop! Close the laptop!” Much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth.
Settle, settle.
We don’t party enough. We don’t celebrate enough. We don’t enjoy enough.
Tonight I had dinner with a friend. In the midst of our conversation, I had a moment. I didn’t let her in on this moment, lest she think I was completely crazy. Our environment came into sharper focus. Peachy-colored paint. Mismatched flatware. The shifting, scittering light of dusk. The tingle of a bell. Smells of pepper and sour cream and guacamole. The startling touch of ice on my lips.
I thought, “This is it.”
In the middle of an ordinary Mexican restaurant on an ordinary Thursday evening. Strangers to the right and strangers to the left. Servers and water pitcher girls and busboys. Shredded chicken. Tortillas.
This is worth noticing, worth savoring.
Worth celebrating.
So much, we take for granted. The person will always be there. The thing will always happen. The routine will never change.
Until the person is gone and the thing stops and the routine is blown to bits.
When used as a verb (with an object), celebrate is defined as “observ[ing] (a day) or commemorat[ing] (an event) with ceremonies or festivities; to make known publicly; proclaim.” And yet celebration need not be a ticker-tape parade or a grand bash. Stripped to its essence, to celebrate is to say, “I notice this. I remember that. I cherish you. I love you.”
It is to step outside of the mundane, even if just for a few seconds. It is to set aside the stressful. It is to choose to see the special. The blessings. The holy.
And we don’t do it enough.
Hug your friends. Kiss your spouse. Pet your dog (or, if you must, your cat). Eat a second piece of cake. Breathe in the chill of the night air. Marvel at the sunset. Turn a simple supper into a feast with fancy glasses filled with clinking, glittering ice. Turn off your phone. And your tablet. And your computer. And the television. And the radio. Sigh and smile.
Notice. Remember.
Celebrate.
Stop.
OK, well…I’m in pretty poor shape at the moment, and comprehension and even reading’s kind of episodic.
That’s why I thought, Uh, oh, Marie’s lost it.
Because I read, Eat, if you must, your cat.
Obviously my eyes was cutting and pasting words from the paragraph, and doing it badly.
But I agree. No, wait. Don’t eat the cat. Celebrate, because it all ends too soon.
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This made me laugh, Andrew! “Cat – the other white meat.”
I hope you’re feeling some relief today.
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Yes, buddy, yes! We do take so much for granted. So much THIS: “And yet celebration need not be a ticker-tape parade or a grand bash. Stripped to its essence, to celebrate is to say, “I notice this. I remember that. I cherish you. I love you.” Yes!! I’m parked in the #6 spot this week.
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For some reason, I just want to say, “Party on, Wayne.” 🙂
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Loved your post. Especially the line, “It is to step outside of the mundane, even if just for a few seconds”: it’s an art to see the mundane not for what it is but what it represents. So pleased we were neighbours at FMF today. Helen
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“It’s an art to see the mundane not for what it is but what it represents.”
That’s interesting, Helen. I’ll be pondering that. Thanks for stopping by!
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🙂
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I enjoyed reading this and picturing the table with friends. I got to do this exact thing this week too. A few times. Unexpected and worth treasuring up.
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Definitely! Time with loved ones is one of the greatest treasures we have.
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Amen sister! We don’t do it enough. We don’t party enough. We need to do it more! I love this post by you! It reminds me that our time here is temporary, and it matters to notice the people and things that we love and may take for granted. I kind of want to go out to a Mexican restaurant tonight! 😉 Jenn
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You should eat up some Mexican food! That’s always a party! 🙂
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p.s. I’m visiting from FMF…#22 for me which is my lucky number…two twos. I’ll celebrate that silly thing too! I’ve never been in that spot before for FMF! 😉
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YES! So true. We don’t notice enough, enough to celebrate as much as would be good for our soul and this world. Love this.
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“Good for our soul.”
Noticing and participating in the party is good for the soul, isn’t it? Reminds us that God is good and He rains blessings down on us each day.
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I try hard to live this way…xo FMF27
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I think you do a good job of it!
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Marie – I SO agree! Couldn’t have said it better.
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Thank you, Janet!
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Lovely post! I want to enjoy each moment that I have with my friends and family. So often, I get bogged down with all I have to do, and I forget to enjoy. 🙂 I suppose this is part of the reason God has had me on a five year journey of learning how to rest in His grace! I am still learning, and I’m so glad He’s still teaching. I’m celebrating the fact that He’s not given up on me. 🙂
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“I’m celebrating the fact that He’s not given on me.”
I’ll join you in that celebration for sure! He is so good to us!
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I love this so much, my friend! I missed the chat last night too, because we were out to eat with friends for a church meeting. We were talking of how we could better love the people in the margins in our city and were given the opportunity to love our waitress in a real and powerful way… we celebrated each other and the plans that God is making and inviting us into, we celebrated laughter and good food and friendships strengthening… and we celebrated how God partners with us and reaches us and lets us bless and pray and love those around us… to stop, to notice, to remember… this is holy! Amen and amen!
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Amen indeed!
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Yes and AMEN !!! Everyday the Lord gives us is a cause to celebrate.
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Absolutely!
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