This past weekend, after contemplating it for some time, I asked the dear hubster to venture a guess as to how many days we’d been alive, independently or collectively.  As is his custom when I ponder such notions, he smiled tenderly and said, “I have no idea.”  We changed the subject without any further investigation, but the thought lingered in my mind.   Then, thanks to my marvelous friend serendipity, the habit of being posted how many days she has graced the earth, along with the place I could complete the calculation for myself (and you too!).

In these times of enormous human populations and gigantic budget deficits, digits increasing seemingly exponentially, my number feels a little small, but when I think about it in terms of what it is – actually being alive – I become quite giddy.  That is 13,780 days of living, breathing, loving, laughing and experiencing the joy that accompanies occupying this precious and sometimes mysterious skin.

The more I sit with it, the more the glory of my days shimmers and expands into a large and luminous ball glimmering on the horizon, energy that wants to spread sweetness and light everywhere it goes.

That is me.  These are my days.

Just think:

Every single day has had a sunrise and a sunset.  Every one!  Oh goodness, I swoon at all the marvelous reds, pinks, purples, and blues that have filled the sky!

Every single night, there have been beautiful stars, even if they were obscured by clouds – Orion, the Pleadies, Castor and Pollux, Cassiopeia, and the rest of the heavenly assemblage.

Every single minute of every single hour, people have died and been born; some I have known; most I have not.

Just wonder:

How many gibbous moons, eyelash slivers, and full orbs of evening light?

How many steps, hops, skips, dashes, and leaps?

How many delicious meals, slices of pie?

How many kisses, hugs, and cuddles?

How many tears, sobs, and cries?

How many songs sung and heard?

I sit here, incredulous at all that has happened in my humble collection of days, all that I know, all I have yet to learn, all that I can only dream about.  I ponder what lies just around the corner or on day 15,000 (July 4, 2012).  No matter what, I am confident and rather sanguine about this marvelous gift, how lovely just to be alive!