Have you ever had the notion that you left the stove burner on or the water running in the tub? What about that pestering sensation that you forgot something but you can’t quite figure out what it is? Have you ever felt like you completely missed some important meeting or engagement? Sure you have, who hasn’t?
We go about our lives–work, family, activities, commitments, obligations, appointments, hanging out with friends, sporting events, school, entertainment–expecting to find fulfillment in this plethora of activities. Adventures with Heroes, romance in The Ugly Truth, escape while the Saints trounce the Pats, and humor in (what else?) The Last Symbol, or we can just spend an evening with the family and get it all.
And if we’re honest, these things DO feel good most of the time.
But have you ever had that nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach–usually it comes late at night when the kids have FINALLY fallen into blissful sleep and all is quiet, when your busy brain slows to a crawl, when you have nowhere to be and no appointments to keep–when you feel like you forgot something that day, that there’s something you still have to do. You turn on the TV hoping to feed the need with the latest episode of, well, you name it. You check your cellphone for messages. After waiting for your not-so-fast DSL to fire up, you check your Facebook page and your various email accounts thinking surely one of these activities will still that growing itch.
But you…can’t…quite…put…your…finger…on…it.
And then you do. Or maybe you don’t.
I do. I remember that I didn’t spend time with the most important “person” in my life that day.
The ache subsides, the gnawing ceases. I’m…full. And not with apple pie a la mode.
Let’s hope I remember to eat what really fills me up tomorrow. Breakfast is so much better with good company.