Living in the Present, Still Cherishing Our Past

"Sunset over the Water" ©Mary Montague Sikes

For many years, people have come to our little town looking for old houses, buying and renovating them. They love the history attached to the buildings that trace back to the turn of the 20th Century, and earlier, and want to be part of it. Some of them enjoy sharing that history with the community and are willing to showcase their homes when various opportunities arise. That scenario is true in many little towns across our country.

Looking at the old homes started me thinking about the people who once lived in them and the ones who live there now. Those people were and are special. They possess memories we need to cherish. Years ago, people honored the elderly in our societies. The young looked up to them and valued their ideas and wishes.

The old will die out and their thoughts and memories will be lost. A few years ago, a friend of mine made a project of going to the homes of some of the elderly and recording her interviews with them. They were World War ll veterans, an early female pilot, fishermen from the rivers and bay, and many more. What a thoughtful and beautiful project.

Long ago, my mother's neighbor pointed out to me that the area would soon change, that most were elderly and soon would be gone. I was in disbelief at what she said. Of course, she was right. In the next several years, all the homes in the neighborhood were filled with young families, and the old had vanished.

As I look at the historical houses, I think of the need to live in the present and value everyone--young, old, and in-between. I remember to take a deep breath and enjoy every sunset. I remember we should live in the moment and strive to enjoy it.

Living in the Moment, I Almost Never Do

Pamunkey River Bridge Opening ©Mary Montague Sikes

Living in the moment is a hard thing to do, especially for artists and writers. That's been especially true for me during the past few weeks. I've been involved in art openings, artist workshops, setting up space in a new gallery, working in that gallery, a trip to Hilton Head Island, and much more. All the while, I've followed my passion--watching the baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Perhaps that is a time of living in the moment.

Coming home earlier this week, we encountered something we had not seen for a few years--a bridge opening. Once the new bridges across two of the three rivers that surround our little town were completed and opened, the worrisome long delays to allow boats to pass through became a thing of the past.

Usually, I would be unhappy to have to wait in the long line for the bridge to lock back in place and traffic to resume. This time I decided to live in the moment. I got out of our car with camera in hand and took photos of the river and of the dramatic sunset I was fortunate to see.

Down the Pamunkey River ©Mary Montague Sikes

It was fun to have a quiet minute and the chance to take photographs from atop the bridge. It was nice to enjoy being where I was and not dreaming of how I would spend my time in the next few minutes or hours. I couldn't quite calm some future planning, like writing this post, but for a little while I savored where I was at a small point in time.

Do you live in the moment? Do you dwell in the past? Do you dream of the future? Are you a ponderer? How can we learn to live in the moment?

Sunset Over the River Marsh ©Mary Montague Sikes

Living in the Moment

When bad things happen like the tornadoes in Oklahoma with lives lost suddenly, you start to think about living in the moment. After all that moment might be all you have, and you should appreciate it to the fullest.

My mother used to tell me to "wake up and smell the roses". She worried that I "burned the candle at both ends". Mother was right about that, and I still do. However, I am thinking more about living in the present and enjoying the flowers in bloom and the beautiful sunsets which I have always appreciated but perhaps never quite enough.

"Portal to Forever" acrylic painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

Sometimes I create paintings that make me think. "Portal to Forever" is one of those. A few years ago, I stood inside one of the smaller buildings excavated from the jungles at Palenque in Southern Mexico. It was part of the Maya Ruins from long ago. I started to think of the people who stood in that place before me. I stared through the portal, across the massive foliage that led to Guatemala, and wondered about the past. I took 35mm color slides of the scene that would later serve as reference photos for my paintings.

Was I living in the moment that day in Palenque? Or was I living in the past? I remember that I looked across into forever. Are forever and the present one and the same?

I don't know. Do you?

Tides Inn Art Show

Memorial Day Weekend, May 25 and 26, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., I'll have books to sign and will paint at the Art Market, Tides Inn in Irvington VA.