Edit, Add, Appreciate

Continuing to follow Graceful Creative on theEdit, Add, Appreicate it thread on Sundays.
So, for this week:

Edit- About a year and a half ago when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer, a wise friend who had recently lost her own father to cancer reminded me of Anne Lamott's admonishment to "as much as possible, live in the present." When someone has a life threatening illness, your eyes are always scanning the horizon, you are always trying to think through what could be ahead, and you could almost miss the time you have with your loved one. I appreciate that wise counsel and have shared it with others- like pressing a secret into their hand as they start down a dark road. As much as possible, live in the present. Tuesday will mark one year without my dad. This week I am giving myself the very advice that served me so well before. The temptation is great to revisit that exhausting day a year ago, to wonder if we made the right choices about his care, to wish we might have said more or done more. And to do that would be a disservice to my father who loved life and clung to it, and who lives forever in our hearts. This week two of his grandchildren are graduating from high school, one of them being my own daughter. What great joy he took in them, and what high hopes he had for them as they cross this new threshold, and I choose to honor him by being very present with them in this joyful time in their lives. As much as possible, I will live in the present this week.
Add- I will add in more contemplative time this week. Shelling peas, as I did tonight. Carrying water to my plants in buckets as my hose is broken. Honest repetitive work that is quiet enough for me to hear my own voice.
Appreciate: Especially appreciating my sister this week as her sweet boy, my precious and perfect nephew graduates. She has done a million trillion wonderful things for me, but none better than making me an aunt.