Summit Wellness: Gratitude - "Better Late Than Never"
Wellness can be achieved by virtue of completing a journey and maintain a lifestyle. But it can also be magnified by our ability to appreciate and be thankful for the things that we already have! Summit Wellness continues to hum the melody of connection between feeling good and feeling grateful!
Gratitude is a monthly feature contributed by Matt Anthony, Digital Media Producer and on-air host for the Summit FM. Matt reflects on instances where we might uncover more ways to appreciate what’s in front of us, and how those instances might contribute to our overall health and well-being.
"Better Late Than Never"
By Matt Anthony - Summit FM Contributor
Do you like music?
Does it give you a lift?
Then look in the closet
For your Christmas gift!
When I was 10 years old, I descended the steps of our old colonial home in Canton, Ohio with the rest of my siblings. Christmas morning had arrived, and the energy-level, as you would expect, was palpable.
We gathered around the tree that morning, as we did every Christmas morning. Even though my father, a high school teacher, and my mother, a housewife, struggled financially at every turn to try to provide for a family of 9, we always had a ‘Christmas morning.' Decades later, when I think of that particular morning, I immediately focus on how grateful I am for my parents’ ability to make this a magical time for us.
This morning, though, seemed different. My mother pointed out various small stacks of gifts for all my brothers and sisters, but there didn’t seem to be any indication that there might be a gift for me. Suddenly, she thrust a small box in my direction, and said, ‘This is for you!”
Falling out from inside that box was the above poetic verse. I read it, and then I jogged over to the closet on the other side of the living room. And in that closet was an acoustic guitar!
Now, you’re probably thinking that this is the part of the tale where I tell you that, at the age of 10, I began my journey towards guitar-prodigy. You’re probably anticipating an excerpt where I regale you with the stories of how I spent hours in the attic working the fretboard, trying to make my fingers perform the same tasks as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, and Brian May. And you more than likely expect me to end this essay by crediting my mother as the sole influence in pushing me towards a career in music.
But that wasn’t the case. Learning the guitar was hard work. And my effort and interest-level resided far more in the world of sports than it did inside the music-universe. While I was learning how to execute a behind-the-back pass in basketball or stoically following my father’s instruction on the proper way to throw out a runner who attempted to swipe second base, that beautiful instrument gathered dust in that closet, rarely picked up again after that cold, snowy Christmas morning.
While it remains one of the true regrets of my life, I am, in a strange way, grateful for the missed opportunity. My failure to take advantage of that opportunity has taught me much about ‘practice’ and dedication. I’ve thought often of this poem that my mother crafted so beautifully, and I’ve used it to help me work more diligently in other areas of interest where I could excel.
Back in the late 80’s, while I was teaching at a business college, I had a student who was a musician. And during an after-class chat, I shared this story with him, expressing the disappointment in myself having not taken advantage of that opportunity that my mother had presented me. And he said, “Why be disappointed? Start playing now.” And later that month, he located a used Sigma acoustic guitar for me. It’s the guitar that I own to this day.
That guitar doesn’t sit in a closet. It also doesn’t get played nearly as much as it should. But even yesterday, when I picked it up to work my way through a chord that I was trying to learn, I thought, again, about my mother’s poem. I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful that she tried to steer me towards something that really is a passion of mine: music. I’m grateful that I was able to at least remember to use her verse to remind me about the importance of 'practice,' and to remind myself that effort is required to be good at anything.
And I’m grateful for Kurt, that student, many years ago, who reminded me that it’s never too late to start, that it’s never too late to let the scars of regret heal, and that it’s never too late to ‘live in the now.’