by Valerie Cerami

Created on: September 02, 2008

We are not here for long, and only once

This phrase originated as a quip-quick-glimpse of a vacation memory. But really, this sentence fragment is in it's entirety, an A Priori memory - intrinsic to us all. My manta and title [We are not here for long, and only once] was first uttered upon seeing a sight while far far away from home. Yet, I found this thought recurrent in the mundane... this revelation, was a lasting epiphany and lifelong lesson of "being".

Peeking back in time, peering through the small window of opportunity I once had, on a dream "trip of a lifetime" moment.

As I stood on the island of Hawaii, watching the molten lava gleam neon orange oozing over it's black backdrop at sunset, I took a deep, full breath in order to pause this picture in my memory bank pausing in awe, to take it all in. Relishing in the moment, with a joy filled fullness, I sighed to myself,

"we are not here for long, and only once"

I further knew inside,
" I am fortunate to live this lovely glimpse, I must soak it up - every bit of it feel it's beauty and uniqueness to my core, and carry it with me. Truly, I don't think I'll ever be back here again, In fact, I'm luck to actually be standing here now."

I was in the moment totally. Focused solely and soulfully - on the miraculous natural event that takes place every night and that day I had the blessing of being there. Bearing witness to the colors, textures, taste of the very air and ocean on my very tongue of the sun setting on the ancient volcanic ash, alive with a streaming, red-hot flow of lava squirreling it's way down to the coolness of the water and sizzling it's song.

I thought to inner me,
"How enlivening!".

"How very lucky I am to be here on this island paradise. I smiled inside and felt whole to know the world held such miracles for those who just take the time to appreciate them be it in book, in person, or in dream-scape if only for a brief, second look."

Now, today, as I sit on my terrace on a sunny Sunday afternoon in New Jersey, I'm taken back, somehow beckoned, by a similar sentiment of delight.

Looking up at a vivid blue sky, feeling the warm breeze, I hum to myself,
"thank you, Mother Nature, for this beautiful day". I'm coaxed by the greenness of the treetops gently swaying, the sun dancing on the water's swirls, the chatter of birds and dogs and children and things going on below.

I'm stuck by this, touched and humbled by the exquisiteness of the interplay the weather, the movement, "the Way" it just "is" and happens to be around me.

Though, this is where I live day in and day out where I sit most every afternoon, with appreciation, I think I know I realize

"We are not here for long, and only once."

of my own mortality.

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