You can’t have it all.
In her poem titled just that, Barbara Ras told us this, ironically, making us believe that in fact, we can.
May be we can rant on those lines and list all we can have even if we can’t have it all.
You can’t have it all.
But you can have great ideas that come to you in the middle of the night or when you’re sitting on your lavatorial throne or when you’re standing under a hot shower, when you least expect it!
You can have early mornings when the whole world isn’t really awake yet, to take in the quiet and watch the sun rise.
You can have the sound of a child’s laughter, so vulnerable, yet so purely filled with happiness. May be it reminds you to live, love and laugh like that. With reckless abandon.
You can have the surreal realization of finally belonging somewhere after feeling like a round peg in a square hole your whole life.
You can have the clarity that hindsight affords and see how far you’ve come from a year ago.
You can have a capricious and therefore, mysterious cold breeze on a hot summer’s day. Contrarily, you’re reminded of Albert Camus’ words, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
You can have songs written and sung for any and every emotion you’re feeling, like it was written and sung just for you. It was.
You can have cafes on cozy city corners with vintage chandeliers and that server that always smiles at you when you order a hot chocolate.
You can have the chance to chance upon that seventy-year-old couple that walks around the park you run around, making you believe, reluctantly even, in a love that lasts but never grows old.
You can have a swim in the ocean at dusk when the sky is pink and the saltwater is warm.
You can have inexplicable strength just when you think and feel you can’t go a step further. And then, you give it more than everything you’ve got.
You can have the stars. And as you stargaze, you’ll be amazed at being part of this boundless universe.
You can have a great book that feels like a friend.
You can have adventures waiting in some far off country.
You can have Art that is buried in the corner of galleries, or on the street.
You can have the best of friends and get in trouble together.
You can have the high that comes from climbing mountains.
You can have the comforting lick of a stray dog because he wants someone to reach out to him as much as you do.
And amidst and after it all, you can have a life that people write novels about. Aren’t we all stories anyway? You can have your own. And you do.
We can’t have it all. But we should take all we can.
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