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It was seven years ago this month that I lost most of Tuesday.

One moment I was doing lunges and burpees at the YMCA, and the next moment everything just got … lost. I have no memory of that afternoon.

When I went into the locker room after my workout, everything seemed to be tilted. The lockers looked like dominoes toppling over. I couldn’t figure out where I was or what I was trying to do. My mind was jumbled and confused, like it was wrapped in gauze and I couldn’t shake it off. And then I don’t remember what happened next.

Steve said I called him from the Y’s lobby, crying and afraid. I kept repeating I’m so confused. Something is wrong. Steve told me to stay where I was, and he’d come and get me. My cell phone tells me that I tried calling him seven more times after that.
I don’t remember any of it.

A stay at the hospital and lots of tests determined I’d had an episode of transient global amnesia. My brain was incapable of creating short term memories that day. (When the doctor gave me her diagnosis, I started to laugh. Because, really. Why wouldn’t my brain want to forget burpees? But who gets amnesia when they’re doing them? And if that isn’t a good enough reason to banish burpees from any future exercise routine, I don’t know what is.)

The event was scary and kept me on edge for several days. It also invited me to notice how life can change so quickly. It asked me to consider how I show up, or don’t show up.

I’m feeling that same need to pause and reflect lately … wondering about what has been and what’s next.

In the Midwest we’ve packed up parkas and galoshes and we’re wondering why we didn’t start doing our flabby arm exercises earlier because tank-top time is upon us. We’re ending one season and starting another. Our rhythms and activities are changing. We are shedding what was right for then, and we are putting on what we need now.

My friend, Dawn Barton, writes this in her (Oh, so very good!) new book, Midlife Battle Cry: Redefining the Mighty Second Half:

I decided I will live boldly, embracing all that makes me the woman I am today. I refuse to be a spectator of life. Instead, I will be a wild participant, because life is for the living. I want to be used every day, like an old Bible. A worn, weathered old Bible representing a life with marked pages, tear stains, and blessings. I’m going to soak it all up – the people, the lessons, the time.

Yes. That sounds good. Really good.

For several months, my morning study times have almost always begun with Psalm 103:1-5:
“Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name…He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles!”

Losing another day is not on my to-do list. But looking for all the good God has for me in my daily? Living boldly and soaking in the moments? I want to check those items Done! when my head hits the pillow at night.

What do you want your summer to look like?
How do you want to spend your time? What moments do you want to create?

This season, this month, this day, could be the start of something new. Something really great.
God is so very faithful. He has good things planned for us.
Let’s not miss them.