“I feel like I have thrived here, not because of who I am, but because of who I have come to know.”  -Sherlock Holmes (on the tv show no less.. I have no idea if the original Arthur Conan Doyle ever said such a thing.)

I like it though.

It’s a lot like life isn’t it really?  When I think about my life in the day to day, I tend to consider the smaller stuff.  The doing and the having and the wanting and the needing.  The business of going hither and thither.  The things that relate to me and my Big Three: The Silverback and the Evil Geniuses, in that, it’s all about who I am, who we are.  What we need to get done.  What makes us comfortable, happy, safe.  An introspective look, I suppose.  Based on the “I”.  It can take up a shitload of time.

When I step back a little, and take a moment outside of the minutiae of ME, I realise that it really is the connections we make, the things we get to give in this fleeting “mortal coil”  that really makes us grow, and even more, bloom, like big happy-faced gerberas.  Yelling with colour, stretching their heads up.

I guess I’m getting old, cos over here on the other side of forty, this is a thing we (I) think about.  I think about what my life is going to be about, who will miss me when I’m gone, what connections I’ve made, what differences I’ve made to the lives of people around me, what legacy will I leave.  I think less about the stuff I have (plenty) and more about the time I have left (who knows) and what I want to spend that time doing.

And for me, a big part of that is about spending time with people I love, and who love me back.

Laughing,

Connecting with the heart,

Sitting in contented silence,

And getting the best of out of each other, and hence, our own selves.

Perhaps Sherlock has solved the mystery of life.

So c’mon, share, what makes you thrive?