We do not know about tomorrow, all that we know about is today. I sat at the edge of my Nanas' hospital bed and listened as she told me about her pain. She recently broke her hip and due to her age, she is not able to be operated on. So now she is in a rehabilitation center and she is just simply not that thrilled about it at all; She is stuck, in a bed and she is unable to move. I am sure that I would not be too happy about it either and I not sure who would. But my Nana is different. This is a woman who has crossed oceans to be with the man whim she loves. This is a woman who stomps on wasps with her bare feet. This is a woman who built a life with her own two hands - Brick by brick. This is a woman who quite literally probably even yelled out at the Nazi's. So, stillness just does not work very well with her; I suppose that it is just not in her bones and it just does not sit very well with her spirit and I understand this all too well, because it just does not sit well with me either. So I go to visit her as often as I possibly can and she tells me of stories of what it was like growing up in World War II (I told you she could tell stories). She thinks about her homeland and what it was like to leave her country behind. She reflects on her parenting skills and also of her marriage. She tells me stories of the people that she has loved, who are no longer walking this earth still today. She tells me that old people like to talk about the past so much, because they do not really have a future and that their memories are where they live. She says, "We do not know about tomorrow baby, all that we know about is today." And so I listen to her words, I repeat them as she says them. I let them roll around in my mouth and I also let them rest upon my heart. It becomes a chant of sorts, a soothing rhythm for my worried heart. "We do not know about tomorrow, all that we know about is today." I say this and she just laughs. I try not to worry about what life may or may not bring her tomorrow. I commit this to memory - My Nana, in her hospital bed, laughing because of my cheesy delivery; Telling me stories about her youth, her journey and of the moments of her life that she has committed to her own personal memory. I burn the sound into my brain, my Nana telling me to enjoy today and to stop worrying so much about what tomorrow may or may not bring my way. I listen to her stories of the years gone by and know that it is up to me to weave her into future memories. And for a moment, we both are still …. Crystal K. Floyd January 27, 2020