Pieces of the past are always with us

Earlier today, this jar caught my eye.

It was one of the gifts we gave to all the guests at a high school graduation dinner some of us moms organized for our kids. And it still sits on my son’s desk in our home office.

You can see that it’s still partially intact, still holding some of the candy with which that jar was filled. 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙖𝙧! Just like this jar – our kids always carry with them parts of who they were and where they’ve been!

And in a few days, our son will graduate from the college depicted on this jar. This jar signaled the close of his high school chapter and the beginning of his college journey, yet the young man who will be graduating still has so much of the high school boy inside of him. In fact, he brings parts from 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 with him as his story continues to unfold.

When we look back on all that was, we’re bound to feel a jumbled mixture of joy, nostalgia, sadness, excitement, gratitude, longing and so much more. This is part and parcel of living a life we treasure with people we cherish. But let’s also remind ourselves that all that was is never lost.

Some things we hold in our hearts and memories, and others we can see plain as day all around us. Because when we look closely, 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙠𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣.