Is this it?

Speaking to a dear friend last week about life stuff - the adulting, bills, still-raising adult-children, appointments, work, to-do lists. And she said, "I don't want to say it out loud, but like... is this it? Decades into our life, and is this it?"

And I only needed to think for a moment.

Absolutely, this is it.

This is crescent moons peeking through dark skies. This is the giggles of the two-year-old next door. This is our dog who greets us every morning - every time we return - with a wagging tail, eager to hear about our day. This is opening the door for a stranger whose hands are full. This is the chance to sleep under a blanket of stars. This is watching kind people do kind things. This is understanding the exhaustion of another human and having empathy. 

This is knowing that there is great sorrow and great joy, sometimes within a span of 24 hours. This is loving people who leave and not loving people quite as much who stay. This is remembering that we have more than we realize. This is, for many of us, reading, the ability to move, to wiggle our toes and fingers. 

This is seeing a stranger's wedding in the distance and wanting to give them advice for a moment, yet knowing it's their story to live. This is getting old enough that you don't make others wrong and you begin to realize your own patterns, cycles and stuff that gets in the way of living. 

This is second chances at love, third chances at love, and maybe even fourth chances at love. This is the awkwardness and small heartbreak of emptiness, and this is the privilege of learning what you want to bring into your life. This is holding hands in simple moments. This is really noticing how the colors change in a loved one's eyes.

Yes, this is it. Living on a giant rock floating through space. This is sunrises and sunsets and that magical time in between - dawn and dusk. 

This is the wonder of growth and the seeming finality of death. 

This is tears and laughter, and everything in between.