14 November 2010

the doing

"but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. this is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. there is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. and I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

anna quindlen

14 comments:

  1. This is one of my favourite quotes.

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  2. love, love this.

    i wish this was as easy to remember in the moment as it is to remember after the moment.

    thanks for sharing..

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  3. It's so easy to forget to be present and mindful. Great quote.

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  4. thank you for the reminder!

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  5. gives a little lump in the throat, those there words of hers...

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  6. What a beautiful quote. This is so so true.

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  7. i need to remember this.
    i need to remember this.
    i need to remember this.

    thank you for this. xo

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  8. ringing so true to me right now...
    thank you

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  9. every time i read that quote, it slays me. am i remembering it enough? am i slowing down enough? am i mixing/messing things up too much on the priority list: the to-dos and the dreams and the drudgery?

    ah, motherhood.
    ah, life.

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