To-Day

To-Day

I know of two newscasters, one on broadcast television and on the other on cable, who end their on-air segments with the phrase “On This Day,” then recap what has happened in years past “on this day.”

I love to discover a word’s origins. The word, “today” comes to us in Old English as todӕge, or to dӕge meaning “on (the) day.” “To” and “day” were separate words until the early 1900s. In German, we get *hiu tagu “on (this) day,” with Latin’s influence of “on this side.”

When I think of the Latin combination of words to describe today, I envision a clock and what we do “on this side” of the two hands coming together at midnight before we begin a new day. I ask myself, “What did I do “on this side “ of those clasped hands?

This year, I added a daily event to my Google calendar. It is called “To-do list for Today.” I got the idea from Pinterest. It was put there by the Girl’s Guide to Loving Life and I read it on each “today,” each “on this side” of O’clock’s hands.

Count my blessings

Practice kindness

Let go of what I can’t control

Listen to my heart

Be productive yet calm

Just breathe

Summer feels like it is flying by. I cannot believe August is here. How quickly East hands off its light to the West. Sun fades out, Moon fades in. Today turns to tomorrow.

Today, running errands in my car, I came to a 4-way stop in Excelsior, Minn., a small town a mile from my house. I stopped and waited for the woman, driving a grey car on my left, to proceed. She did and my turn came to go. As I turned left, I noticed the man at the stop sign in a car behind the grey car. He was screaming at the woman in the grey car. He was so angry that his head over the steering wheel. His teeth looked like Jim Carrey’s “The Mask.” So caught up in his emotions was he that he nearly plowed into me before he realized he was out of turn. I smiled at him as I turned. I hope his “on this day” went better for him.

About 10 years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Thelma Wells when she was in town to address women attending Women of Faith. She said something in that interview that has always stayed with me. “When we encounter people, we should give them a good day.

That is my goal on today’s date. To scratch away at someone’s bad day and give him or her a bit of goodness, to change the surface of their life.

 

 

I love limes, especially when they are zested into sparkling water, over a salad or my favorite, Key Lime Pie. I like to think my simple “zest” of goodness I put out each “on this side” of the day might be the little thing that makes a big difference in their day.

Thanks for stopping by. Make “today in history” a significant one.

Note: If you click the link, you’ll go to my all-time favorite Key Lime Pie recipe, courtesy of Gourmet Magazine April 1990. Please note, recipe calls for key lime juice. I have used key lime juice and fresh key limes. If you use fresh key limes, juice enough of them (say, 25) to make 1/2 cup. 🙂