A Thousand Rebirths
I’ve been born a thousand times.
The first time, the most obvious, was my physical birth. On the night I was born, my Mom sat at her parents’ kitchen table and played cards until 1:00 AM before heading for the hospital; I was born forty minutes later. I wish I could tell you I am as expedient at all things in life as I was at my entrance.
And so there I was: first child, first grandchild on both sides of the family, only child for the moment. And life proceeded much as you would expect.
But life, as we all know, does not ever stay the same. Everything changes; we change.
After a few years of life, I became a big sister, “the oldest.” Not long after that, I became a Kindergartener, a student, and the child of divorced parents. By the time I graduated from eighth grade, I experienced my first crush, bought my first bra, gained two stepparents and another sibling.
In high school I was born again the first time I smoked a cigarette, fell in (and out of) love, got a job, and drove a car. I was reborn when I finished college and started working. I was reborn again when I met my husband and became a wife, a homeowner, and a mother. And yet again when I changed careers, experienced the loss of loved ones, and so much more…
Each of these events was the start of a new stage of life, a rebirth of sorts. Each time, rather than leaving behind the person I was, I carried a piece of her with me, learning from my experiences, adding, growing, and becoming someone new.
In his “Conclusion” to Walden, Thoreau tells the story of a beautiful bug that emerged from the wood of a kitchen table more than sixty years after having been deposited as an egg in the living tree from which the table was formed. He speaks in terms of birth, new life, and resurrection. The bug emerges when time and conditions are right for its second birth. And so should we…over and over again.
[tweetthis]I have been born a thousand times; and I suspect I am far from finished.[/tweetthis]
I suspect I am far from finished. There will be many more rebirths and many more lives to live as time marches steadily forward. Thoreau leaves us with words of unmistakable hope and a reminder to be open to possibility: “Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.”
I can’t wait to see what the next dawn awakens, what each rebirth and new life holds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. This week’s topic is “The day I was born (re-born) was…”
Our host this week, as always, is the lovely and talented Kristi Campbell from Finding Ninee and our sentence starter comes from Corinne Rodrigues of Everyday Gyaan.
Love this? Share the love and tell someone!
28 Comments
Comments are closed.
Love this post. Poignant and powerful!
Wow, Gulara! That is a wonderful compliment. Thank you! <3
Beautiful. Yes, life is a series of rebirths, Lisa, if we allow ourselves to see each stage as such.
Granting ourselves permission to see it that way is a big part of it, Corinne. That’s why I love Thoreau’s idea that we have to be open to it. Great sentence starter!
This is rather lovely, Lisa, and I think the idea of not being finished, in spite of all the rebirths, is a wonderful one. How prettily you put this 🙂
I love your comments, Lizzi. <3 Thank you. I believe we are all far from finished; our potential is limitless. All we have to do is decide when and how to go about tapping into it.
I hope to GOODNESS that I’m going to be able to tap into some of it next Monday at 11am!
I will be praying that it all goes well.
That’s an interesting way to think about it. If rebirths are life-changing moments, I guess as you say there are also sometimes sad ones as well as happy ones, but all of them are important in our individual story. 🙂
Definitely some are sad ones, Bun. Definitely. And those are necessary as well, aren’t they? Like you said, all part of our story.
Apparently mums waters broke as the Coronation Street theme started and the doctor came round and I slipped out before Coro finished!
Had I known a narcissist awaited me on the outside I might have taken a bit longer to arrive. Like 50 years.
Some of us *do* leave parts of ourselves behind. The part of us that at the time was too scared to be reborn because our parent(s) rejected him. Little (and sometimes big) parts of who we really are get trapped back in time and we paper over the hole in ourselves as best we can and move on.
The good news of course is that we can be reborn. Some of us just have to go back to find the younger versions of ourselves (our inner child) and free them to come with us so we can be reborn into the next truer version of our authentic selves.
Dave, I think you’re right that we do leave parts behind – the parts that are meant to be left behind. Absolutely. the part we take along is the part that is meant to grow. The journey through life and self betterment is a long and arduous one for sure. We just have to keep at it!
Lisa, you did an amazing job with this – we truly are born and born and born to new realities, new meanings, new circumstances… beautiful job. xoxo
Thanks, Kristi. <3
A bug…really? Hmmm.
🙂
I really now must read that whole piece of literature, of which you make sound so appealing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of all things Thoreau.
Lovely post. Glad you could do one. I always enjoy reading your interpretations for these prompts.
Last week, Wilde. This week, maybe a little Thoreau.
A bug. Right? 😀 Thoreau’s Walden has influenced me in more ways than I could ever have imagined and like nothing else I’ve ever read. Emerson’s up there, too, without a doubt, but Thoreau really does it for me.
I’m glad I got this in, too. I knew what I wanted to write, but I couldn’t manage to get it finished when I wanted to. I may have to pick up a bit of Wilde this week myself – second time I’ve seen his name in the last 24 hours.
This is just exquisite. You pulled me in immediately, and I experienced my own rebirths as I read yours…
“I can’t wait to see what the next dawn awakens, what each rebirth and new life holds.”
^^^^ Me too, love. Me too.
I love love love your comment, Chris. <3
Beautiful post Lisa! I love the way you applied the prompt. There have been so many rebirths of me and at 45 I’m wondering how much more I can grow and change but I too suspect that I am far from finished.
Thanks, Kenya. I think that’s the great thing about human beings – their capacity for growth is limitless. We can always grow and change and become something more than we are today.
You aren’t done. But you’re good the way you are.
Hmm…I think that might be the best scenario, Liv. What do you think?
This is a lovely piece, Lisa – your words took me along on your journey from birth to now. The story of your life in terms of rebirth. I hope I’m far from finished too. Growth and change can be scary and painful, but it is also what it means to be human.
Thank you, Dana. These prompts really get me thinking. I’m so glad it drew you along; that makes me feel so good! You’re exactly right about that being so much of what makes us human. Very true.
You’re right – we did have similar posts with this topic.
I also imagine there are many more in my future. The ones that confuse me are the ones that come when everything is silent and uneventful. It’s like my brain’s way of saying, “Ok! What next?”
“What next?” is one of my favorites – the character of the President in The West Wing said it all the time and it stuck. Several of us had a similar thread with this topic. Perhaps we are all like-minded people.
I love how you describe our rebirths as a gradual transition with proper timing. Love the Thoreau reference.
Thanks, Michelle. Thoreau makes a lot of sense to me. A lot of life is about timing, don’t you think? I remember being so impatient as a kid, and my Grandfather always said things would happen “all in due time.” He was so right and I realize that more and more every day.