Hi my friend,
How have the days been treating you? Are you able to relish the change in seasons – wherever you may be? I hope at the very least, you grab the opportunity to find your moment; if there is more than one, all the better.
It’s been a tough time here at Camp K – the losses of three very important relatives have passed away, rocking everyone more than a little bit. This isn’t about the loss, on the contrary, it’s more about what I found.
The moments in between – that’s all there really is, and we experience them all the time. We just shake our heads and say “oh that…”. When my nieces remember their dad – the stories are about little things – how he made up stories about elves while getting them ready for school; his attendance at every soccer game; his words of encouragement when things looked really awful. The stories seemed endless. And each adult child referenced the most innocent of moments. The kind you forget or minimize or dismiss.
I was speaking with my son the other day and he too was saying that the takeaways could be very conflicted and difficult, yet he too is considering the happier moments – not to canonize, nor vilify – just holding the small moments that appear far larger and comforting in the rear view mirror. The ones that can be overlooked yet show up as the most seminal of moments. How fortunate that in our deep recesses, we too can remember – and find solace in the little stories, far more than the epic ones.
One of David Kanigan’s posts last week spoke far more eloquently about the now, the beauty of capturing one moment in time and holding it close and holding it tenderly. Sitting with the experiences you probably didn’t even realize had primary placement in your mind. Didn’t realize until you needed to call upon them for comfort and love.
I leave you with words from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet (1929)
I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
Live everything my dear friend – live it all, and rest assured what remains is love.
Waiting for the Karma Truck 
Beautiful Mimi. Sorry about the loss of your relatives. DK
Thank you – certainly a surreal time with so much happening within a few short weeks
I’m so sorry for the losses too great in number.
Well, they say (I have no idea who ‘they’ are) that bad things happen in threes – and if that’s right, I’d say we’ll get time to work through these losses.
Losing relatives is sad, remembering the good times is better then remembering the bad times.
Most of the time my days treat so so usually better then how the nights treat me.
I’m so sorry for your losses. Too many! It is the insignificant things that are dearest. My favorite memories of my mom are not the large events but the small loving gestures given when they are needed most.
My memories of my parents also reflect the little things – lots of little things which I miss in a big way
So sorry, Mimi. May their memories be for a blessing. That’s how I count each snapshot recollection, as a blessing.
Thank you, Debbie I love the imagery of snapshot held as a blessing ❤️
Beautifully written Mimi
So sorry for your losses
Sending you love 💕 and hugs 🫂😘
Love you back, Amy…thank you 💕
Still one of my favourite writers, Mimi K! – along with Rilke. You always, always hit the nail on the head. And yes, yes, yes! – the little moments. Moments in time – icons in time, that a photographer, like me (or DK), ‘writing in light,’ will gaze upon for hours on end, wondering how it could be that nanoseconds hold such importance. I’ve just spent a balmy evening, bathed in the warm hospitality of a Mallorcan family, in golden Mediterranean light, entranced by their eyes – their histories, their memories, their passions, their diverse brilliance, their gladness today, and their hopes for tomorrow. And earlier today I was moved – as so often before – by the sight of a tender father tending the tiny infant cradled close to his chest, noting the light in his eyes, and in the child’s, too. As I offer condolences upon your family’s losses this week, so, too, I share gladness in the thought that through you and yours their light and their love live on. Thank you for sharing some of your moments. Thank you for sharing Rilke. Thank you for sharing the blessing that you are 🤗💞🙏xx
She IS a blessing, isn’t she Simon?! 💕💕
Stop – hardly a blessing, just someone trying to make it through as we all do…💗
With very very few exceptions, I would like to think that we are all a blessing to someone who we have connected to in life. 💕
Ah Simon, the gratitude is mine – thank you for reading and commenting, thank you for assuring me that you ‘get’ me in all my neurotic manifestations. And above all, thank you for sharing the moments from Barcelona, each vignette described so perfectly – and thank you for the photos that always make me stop, and smile..xx
The teeny, tiny memories are the best ones. Hugs to you and yours.🩷
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Thank you, Joanie…and yes, we the little ones, the ones that surprise you when remembering – they’re the best ❤️
Mimi, I’m sorry for your losses.
And thank you, it has been tough time here as well. And your words helped me see things and deal with them better.
Holding you in my heart ❤️
I can’t think of anything that brings me more joy than knowing that these words helped to make things a bit better – thank you Sawsan. I hope that the difficulties lift, and the path ahead is easier than the road you have been walking on. Sending you many hugs – and if we keep each other’s heart in a secure place, then we know where we can return to when needed..💗
I’m so sorry
Thank you, Beth
I’m so very sorry to hear of your losses. You are, once again, so right. It’s the in-between and insignificant that can bring far more comfort, joy and reflection. Love you. XOXO
Hi my traveling friend! Where in the world is Paul (far more interesting than Waldo)? Thank you for your thoughts – and it seems to me that the little moments arise with more heft than big ones. Love you too and sending big hugs (do I need a passport for them?🧐 xoxo
Aahh beautiful Mimi. Thank you for sharing. May memories and their love live on in your hearts.
Thank you Val – and I too believe that love never dies…
Sending you Love and prayers during this difficult time Mimi. Thank you for the beautiful post. It contains much wisdom. ❤️
Hi Paul – I don’t know how wise I am, but if there’s a little bit of something that resonates, then I’m gratified. Thank you so much…
Mimi – so beautifully expressed as always. The small moments are such treasures. Sending love to all in your family in the wake of these losses. And the words from Rilke are worth reading and rereading. xo, Lisa
Thank you Lisa, thank you…and I agree – the moments that are the most memorable seem to be the everyday-kind, the discreet actions that define a relationship through the course of living day-to-day…
It’s interesting, isn’t it, how one seizes on the smallest of moments and locks them in memory as if dipping them in amber. A simple kindness, a shared laugh, a knowing look, a warm hug just when it’s needed most…these are the things that linger in my mind when I think back on those loved and lost.
Your insights are spot on…as they always are, honey. The realization that we must do our best to seize on the joys and kindnesses of the everyday, for in the end they are the ones that matter. I, too, just lost someone dear and my salient memory, out of many good times shared over my childhood, is of a breakfast meeting after a deep disappointment. She stepped in to hold me when my parents weren’t available and showed me a kindness that I cherish to this day…a simple cup of coffee and a pancake for her, a lifeline for me. Thank you for the reminder…love you. 💕💕
I am always humbled by your writing – you beautifully write of the importance of finding moments that hold us gently in its sway. I am sorry for the loss you have experienced – it seems that those small moments are what we seek when needing comfort…xoox
May these memories carry you all long and far into that special zone of Oh Yes We Had Something Great.
Hi Mark – I love the name of that zone – ‘Oh Yes We Had Something Great’. – it’s perfect!
This was a lovely and heartfelt write, Mimi. I am so sorry for your losses (why do they always seem to come in bundles?)
The littlest things are the ones that stick and the ones we go back to over and over again.
Thank you Dale…
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I have met on DK blog this Morning with you and with your blog. This is my first reading and being in your blog, Dear Mimi, I am sorry to hear your loss in your family. Rest in Peace for all of them. As you mentioned, memories remain behind them. And they are all our richness… Life actually to leave good and nice memories behind us. I am impressed how you expressed and wrote. Thank you, and also sharing Rainer Maria Rilke’s words too. One of my favorite. Have a nice day and new week, Love, nia (from İstanbul)
Hi Nia,
Thank you so much for stopping by – I’m happy you’re here! And may I add that Istanbul is on my bucket list for places to visit. I agree – those who are gone, enrich our lives in so many ways. I hope you have a lovely and happy day…Love, mimi
wow!! 78At the end of the day…