I received a journal for Christmas entitled, " Mom's One Line a Day," a five year memory book. Needless to say, the first few weeks the entries filled in the pages themselves. Then there was a one or two day gap and then a week or two. After sitting down today to catch up the entries, I realized that not filling in the missing days wasn't a failure. Revisiting the calendar and recalling those days was, in fact, a gift. For example, while reflecting back to March 7th and my son's trip to the dentist, I was touched by the observations I had about him as he soldiered through a very long visit in the chair which included xrays (gag reflex), a lecture from the dentist to mom about the enamel on molar number 5, cleaning and then a filling. What I realized by looking back to the events of March 7th are that my son is becoming a more mature young man. He didn't show fear or remorse at the dentist's office and I may not have seen that growth in him if I didn't have a few weeks upon which to reflect.

Reflection is not a gift I have much experience with anyway. I live in the moment, frantic moment to moment actually. My gut leads the way pretty persuasively and I don't cotton much to regrets. What I am seeing a glimmer of is that reflection is a lovely window of insight that can be enjoyed any time after something occurs. It doesn't have a goal or a measurement. Reflection is the clear, pure view of something that provides a glimpse into one line a day for me.