This Too Shall Pass…

This definitely feels like the lesson of the past few days.  All in a very good way.  Honestly, the weekend — labour day weekend here in Canada, and therefore a holiday weekend — was delightful.  Started with a final “surprise” excursion to Toronto to participate in the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament.  It was a blast and I can HIGHLY recommend it.  We all had a great time and the kids loved the jousting, the falconry, the games, the food — really, it was awesome.  And the night ended after midnight, which was when we got home.

Saturday we paid a surprise visit to the local animal shelter, just to supplement our current “Pet Research” — the kids have been wanting a dog, so research has been the name of the game for several months.  Well, our “we’re just researching” trip turned into a done deal.  We are now the proud owners of a great dog — and determined yesterday that his name is Buddy.  So our relatively pet-free status is over.

Sunday we enjoyed a dinner out with my parents.  The kids always enjoy this sort of family event, and saw it as a celebratory “back to school” dinner.  You gotta love the Mandarin — perfect  blend of Chinese food, western food, salads, soups, crab, desserts galore — really, there’s something for everybody.  And the festivities ended eventually, with a joyous toast to a succesful year ahead.

Monday, the official holiday, really was a day of “wrapping up summer.”  While summer doesn’t officially transition to autumn for a few weeks yet, summer holidays have come to a close, and every one of us was painfully aware of this yesterday.  Another summer holiday was done, and a new year of school — even if it is just the “school of life” was upon us.

While our temptation as a human race is to use the phrase “this too shall pass” to apply to the negative circumstances that come up, what I’m aware of today is that EVERYTHING passes, as it should.  Fun comes and goes, laughter gives way to sadness at times, meals come to an end, festivities reach their conclusions.  And it’s all good.  The fact that it all passes, when it’s meant to pass, means that we can truly experience the FULLNESS of life.  Isn’t that awesome?  No matter what’s going on, we can know for certain that it will give way to something else.  This lends spice to life.  And today, I’m feeling particularly grateful for the way life shifts.

Onward and upward!