Secret Anniversaries

The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart, the secret anniversaries of the
heart.  -  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Secret anniversaries of the heart.....are the ones we never discuss.  It may be the memory of the first time someone held your hand, or the last time you hugged someone before they passed, the first encounter with a friend , or maybe just a connection with a stranger's eyes in passing that has stayed with you for years.

It might have been kind words  spoken from someone you never thought would say them, maybe the smell of someone or someplace, a gesture that meant more than words ever could.  I think that is one of the benefits of spending time in silence each day......those memories of those secret anniversaries have an opportunity to surface, to remind you  of moments in your life that should be remembered.

I celebrated one of those anniversaries today, my dad loved ice cream and on Sundays, our treat.....to go to the local DQ and get a cone or shake.   Rick and I were out visiting his mom today, and on the way home
I suggested we get a "treat"......he got a shake, I got a banana split .  On the way home, as I ate my banana split, I thought of all the times I had ice cream with my dad......it was a sweet anniversary of the heart. (in more ways than one)

Many of those secret anniversaries are such simple ones, remembering my first meeting of a friend, or teaching someone yoga for the first time, my first box of crayons, the first time I played a song on the piano.
It seems life is so fast and so complicated that we don't even have time to celebrate the big "public" anniversaries of the heart.....you know the birthday, the wedding anniversary, first day on the job, last day on the job, and all those biggies in between.  But the sweetness, the ease of remembering the secret anniversaries of the heart.......you don't have to do anything but remember.......and smile.