Elise Skidmore

The old will tell you
life goes by in the blink of an eye.

They are not wrong,
but we don't see that until
our eyes open after the blink.

I look back and see my life;
the happy childhood with loving parents
is as clear as if it was yesterday.

I shake my head in disbelief
when I realize it's nearly fifty years
since I met my soulmate.

It seems impossible, 
but in the space of a heartbeat,
the babies who grew inside me
are grown and moving forward
with lives of their own,
where I am on the periphery,
looking in with love and pride.

A life holds billions of heartbeats
before it is done.
We cannot let the spaces between
go unnoticed until it's too late
to appreciate them.

~Elise Skidmore ©2023