Keeping the Faith: Living in the Moment Just May be the Secret to Bliss

My husband lost his wallet. He loses many things. He lost it over a month ago and has not cancelled the credit cards or looked too hard for it. I, on the other hand have been turning the house upside down trying to locate his wallet. This is how we roll. 

He gives things up to the universe and I try to turn the universe in my direction.  He knows that his wallet is “somewhere” and it will just show itself when it is good and ready. I have continued hunting for his wallet, a small wave of panic rising up my esophagus each time I remember it is lost.

Over the years, I have come to see his side and have managed at times to give up to the universe things I cannot change or undo. My husband lives with this faith that things will turn out as they should and for the better. For a few years, I tried to turn him to the darker side. 

If he was completely upbeat, I felt the need to straighten him out and make him see things my way, the correct way, the way in which things could turn out. He has never been swayed and he lives a better life for it.

If it is raining on vacation, he will find a movie, take a nap or suggest we drive around until something catches our attention. I, on the other hand will sit in front of the news waiting for the weather report to tell me when I can go to the beach. I am not sure I would call myself a complete pessimist. I prefer “optimistically challenged.”

Nine years ago, as we patiently awaited the birth of our first child, my husband got up one morning looking ready for a day off instead of a day of work. His simple explanation to me was. “I’m going to see a man about a boat.” I might just preface this by saying I didn’t need a boat. I wasn’t consulted about a boat so going to see anyone about a boat was not on my calendar. What was on my calendar was an ultrasound and a due date.

He left early in the morning. I went to work. I came home from work, walked the dog, made some dinner and waited. Not to date us or anything, but this was before cell phones were compact and reliable. No such thing as “texting.” So I waited. 

He had gone to New Jersey, no idea what exit but I knew he wasn’t too far away.  Somewhere around 9 p.m., headlights flashed through our living room and I heard a beep. I looked out the window and there was my husband, standing in his new boat, a smile so wide on his face his eyes had practically disappeared.

I was not quite as excited. I was tallying our income. Thinking about my maternity leave, diapers, clothes, and a dizzying list of other things the bump in my belly was going to need. But my husband just kept smiling. He saw the boat for what it was, something to enjoy. Where I saw financial disaster, he saw days fishing, swimming and enjoying time with me and our child. His smile never evaporated.

There are people who have faith in God or Buddha or something that is bigger than we are. There are those who don’t pray to anyone in particular but just live with the content sense that they are where they need to be, doing what they should and live in the moment without searching for the “what if?”

The dictionary defines faith as a belief or trust: “a belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something especially without logical proof." And next to that definition is a picture of my husband and his boat.

He manages to live in the moment, take it in and enjoy it. He doesn’t cry often and sees the sunny side of pretty much any situation. He takes people for who they are and allows the universe to move around him. It is a beautiful way to live and I have been taking notes over the years and one of these days I may just find that faith. 

He called me from work yesterday. He found his wallet. It was in his briefcase.

“See?” he said. “I told you it had to be somewhere.”