I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the slowdown.

If someone asked you, at the end of your life, what was your life like?

I wonder what you might say.

How would you characterize your lived experience, the whole of it, cradle to grave.

You couldn't tell every story or detail every friendship or romantic relationship.

You couldn't list all of your jobs or accomplishments in some sort of highlight reel. You couldn't describe

every place you visited and what you experienced there. So how would you summarize your life?

Your tiny in the grand scheme of things, but enormous to you, life.

If someone asked me, at the end of my life, what was your life like, Maggie?

I might say that it was more challenging than I thought it would be,

and also more beautiful and fulfilling

than I expected.

I might say that my life was mostly very happy, thanks to the people who love me.

I'm sure I would talk about my children and my friends and family and writing,

all of which have enlarged my life in countless ways.

Whatever my life has been like, I'm lucky to have lived it.

I know that now, and I hope I feel that way at the end.

Because what are the odds?

I remind myself of this when I get discouraged.

What are the odds that I'm here at all?

Getting to see what I see and hear what I hear and feel what I feel?

I admire today's poem for its wisdom, its sense of gratitude, and its plain spokenness.

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