The Still Passage

Dear Friends,
One day, as I was patrolling the schoolyard, where dodgeball, skipping rope and hopscotch are still as popular as when I was a child, I realized that nothing fascinates me more than the stillness of the passage of time. 
This weekend's events reinforced my belief that for the most part, life's games remain the same, only the players change. As far back as I can remember, family reunions, recitals, birthdays, graduations and shopping sprees have been part of my adult life. Since my sister is only eleven years older than my sons, she always treated them like her cousins. On the other hand, I ended up being forty-five years older than her daughters. Thus, my children acted towards my nieces more like uncles than cousins.
As over the years, we take turns whispering to one another, "PAYBACK TIME," we are fully aware that, all we are doing, is honouring what Flavia Mazelin-Salvi (Psychologies Magazine, December 2012) calls "the unspoken contract that governs any balanced human exchange: I give, and I receive in proportion to my gift." 
As my three year-old granddaughter took a bow and left the stage, I noticed my teenage nieces applauding her, enthusiastically. I couldn't help but feel nostalgic.
Perhaps, if I do a better job of looking after my health, I will be fortunate enough to witness my granddaughters pay forward what they've been receiving so abundantly.  
Although I feel very lucky to be surrounded by all these super conscientious players, deep down, I know, luck has very little to do with this joyous ripply effect. After all, we do reap what we sow. Accepted and filed! What have you accepted and filed today?