Sherry is hosting on Toads today and wishes us to write poetry celebrating the ordinary.
The Ordinary
When I had a deadly brush with cancer
a few years ago,
I learned nothing was too ordinary to celebrate.
Whether it be the tiny blue flowers
hidden in the grass,
the songs of birds,
my husband’s sky blue eyes,
the soft fur of newborn kittens,
the smell of gardenias at night,
the first snowflake,
biting into the first summer tomato,
pulling a pound cake from the oven
redolent with vanilla and lemon,
watching the moon peep from beind clouds –
nothing in our lives is ordinary.
everything is worth celebrating – every day.
kanzen sakura 
May 02, 2019 @ 13:43:23
I am so with you, Toni. An encounter with cancer will do that. I have always had the gift of rejoicing in the ordinary joys….but now that I am in the waning years of my life, this is deepened a hundredfold. Life is fleeting, all is beautiful. I am grateful.
May 02, 2019 @ 15:25:53
I think there are days when you do that even without cancer… but there are other times when you seem to just forget about the little things…
May 02, 2019 @ 15:38:40
Unless one has had cancer and looked at cancer and death nose to nose, one really can’t make such a statement. Of course we can look at the beautiful things in life and appreciate tbem; but there is an extra sparkle to them, an extra sweetness, an extraordinary sense of gratitude. Surviving is more than just cintinuing to breathe. It is a sense of wonder that I lived, that I continue to do so. How can I ever take anything for granted again?
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May 02, 2019 @ 15:39:38
I can only listen and try to understand…
May 02, 2019 @ 15:52:22
Listening is the best one can do. 😊
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May 02, 2019 @ 15:36:33
The joy of recognizing and celebrating the mundane; bang on, Toni. To some extent, thats what I do with my Minimalist photography; tiny framed vignettes.
May 02, 2019 @ 15:39:33
And what I do with every breath.
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May 02, 2019 @ 15:49:49
Beautifully said Tony, there’s so much to be grateful for and every moment is there to be treasured xxx
May 02, 2019 @ 15:51:51
Thank you!
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May 02, 2019 @ 15:55:47
We all need a jolt to make us see what’s important.
May 02, 2019 @ 16:00:13
Yes we do.
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May 02, 2019 @ 16:08:12
Life is a precious gift. It’s been a lot of years (1989) since I had the cancer cut out, and I’ve never taken the gift of life for granted again.
May 02, 2019 @ 17:20:15
Nope. It truly does chsnge your perspective, diesn’t it?
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May 02, 2019 @ 17:31:57
Yes it does.
May 02, 2019 @ 16:10:25
This is a great prayer of thanks.
May 02, 2019 @ 17:20:52
Thank you
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May 02, 2019 @ 16:21:59
mmmmmm….”pulling a pound cake from the oven redolent with vanilla and lemon,”
Oh my yes. Sometimes it takes a brush with the truly frightening to make us understand the grace of each day. As I have said many many times in the past five years, thankful for every day.
May 02, 2019 @ 17:22:03
Yes ma’am and you understand due to the incident with your husband. ❤
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May 03, 2019 @ 07:20:49
❤️. Toni: did you read the comment I made to one of your posts about me seeing the tomb and memorial plaques for a famous Tanka writer and for Basho?
May 02, 2019 @ 16:27:25
Good observation: “nothing in our lives is ordinary.”
May 02, 2019 @ 17:22:26
No it isn’t
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May 02, 2019 @ 18:21:01
Yes, YES! Life has so much to celebrate!
May 02, 2019 @ 18:25:14
Ah! Cancer I know from experience how it makes you see things as they really are, for me it’s been a little over 20 years but one never really knows for sure what is lurking there. Like you said, “the tiny blue flowers hidden in the grass,”
May 02, 2019 @ 18:37:26
We often overlook the beauty and magic in the small things. Well written.
May 02, 2019 @ 18:51:50
So beautiful and true! Thanks for sharing this, and blessings to you!
May 02, 2019 @ 19:23:36
Ordinary stuff are wonderful extra ordinary things Toni.
May 02, 2019 @ 22:05:09
Ah, we must celebrate the extraordinary moments of ordinary living! Thanks for inspiring us, Toni 🙂
May 02, 2019 @ 23:16:14
You made all those ordinary’s sound decadent. Loved this — and pooey on Cancer. I am so sick of hearing that word…
May 02, 2019 @ 23:44:13
Well, cancer happens Margaret dear
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May 03, 2019 @ 03:02:20
Illness does make us see things in a different light and I love how you’ve expressed that in your poem, Toni. I like the range of joyous things, including those tiny blue flowers in the grass (we have some at the moment) and biting into the first summer tomato – especially home-grown ones!
May 03, 2019 @ 10:23:15
So it is. It’s too bad most of us need a scare like that to see it. (K)
May 03, 2019 @ 11:20:29
That awareness and appreciation for life around us can be life-giving, and I’m sure rewarding to a survivor.
May 03, 2019 @ 13:31:21
The ordinary, is often, the extraordinary that we bypass, in daily life. Until, someone forces us, to stop and look around at the world, we’re missing. Thank you, Toni, for reminding us, of this very important fact.
May 03, 2019 @ 13:38:19
I had always noticed these things but somehow, before my diagnosis, I had lost touch with them. I found my focus again. 😊
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May 03, 2019 @ 15:51:15
How blessed you are Toni!
May 03, 2019 @ 15:57:03
I am extremely blessed and grateful.
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May 03, 2019 @ 17:22:44
You are so very damned right Toni. Take nothing for granted, espevially health. Had the epiphany when I was revived in the hospital and given my Pacemaker. We can get lulled into apathy, or so distracted we syop noticing the everyday things that truly make life wonderful. You expressed it here beautifully! 🙂
May 03, 2019 @ 20:37:04
Thank you Rob. Sometimes we need a giant kick in the butt!
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May 04, 2019 @ 00:50:00
All those moments are extraordinary moments and beautifully expressed.
May 04, 2019 @ 09:11:04
You are so right, Toni!! I celebrate your poem and you!!
May 04, 2019 @ 12:43:55
Your list reminds us of all the things in life for which we should be grateful – and why we should celebrate them.
May 04, 2019 @ 14:06:57
Thank you. It was a hard way to learn but I wouldn’t trade it for anything
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May 04, 2019 @ 16:27:08
Such a good word of wisdom! I love your ending:
nothing in our lives is ordinary.
everything is worth celebrating – every day.
May 04, 2019 @ 16:53:05
Thank you. Yes it is.