That was a Memorable Day to Me, For it Made Great Changes In Me

 movie still from Bright Star

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me.  But, it is the same with any life.  Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.  Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

-Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The understanding and the emotions that fall behind this quote resonate with me every time I go back to read the verse.  If you have ever read Great Expectations or are familiar with the story, Dickens here is referring to the day when the two protagonists, Pip and Estella, meet each other - the day that evermore alters Pip's life and anchors the expectations he has for the rest of his life.

Pick a day.  Any day from your life that holds significant meaning and importance, whether good or bad - just a day, moment that was very telling and considerable.  Then concentrating on that day, anticipate and hypothesize - ENVISION - how the rest of you life would have been different but for that day.  


It's like that Gwyenth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors - one step to the right, one minute too late, one introduction, and how would your life have changed without that moment, memory.


Pick a day. Is that day today, or was that day yesterday, or is that day five years from now - an ordinary day, but a day from which ultimately nothing will ever be as it was.  

I choose a day I have not yet lived - experienced - and only after this day will I have lived when nothing again, after, is the same.

So have you picked a day .......?