Storing Life Away

We had our first fire in the woodstove a couple of mornings ago, just to take the chill off.  Even though it's not really cold yet, it's time for long sleeves and long pants. I'm storing summer clothes away bit by bit--shorts, short-sleeved shirts, tank tops, capri pants.

Out in the vegetable garden, i'm trying to store summer away. Last night, i made lemon basil pesto and stored it in the freezer.

We try to store our lives away--in photo albums, on Facebook, in memory, on flash drives. These give us the illusion of a continuum. We think we can just reach back and touch our past. Yet our lives actually unfold moment-by-moment.

That person in the picture that you take to be you is actually non-existent. We could say she's "dead." The photo reminds us of how we used to look--when we were 5 or 18 or 30 or even yesterday. But there is no way we can reach out and touch that person. She is gone, gone, gone.

Now there is only this person, with a memory that is happening in the present moment.