Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because
they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t
know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t
suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed?
Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?
How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while
you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television?
I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going
to lunch in a half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can’t. I
have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known
yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my
personal favourite: "It’s Monday."… She died a few years ago. We
never did have lunch together.
Because in the West we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule
our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to
ourselves – when all the conditions are perfect!
We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet trained.
We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We’ll go on a
second honeymoon when we get two more kids through college.
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter,
and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we
awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I’m
going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit."
When anyone calls my ‘seize the moment’ friend, she is open to
adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new
ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for
five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of
rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.
Now…go on and have a nice day. Do something you ‘WANT’ to… not
something on your ‘SHOULD DO’ list. If you were going to die soon and
had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what
would you say? And why are you waiting?
Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to
the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic
flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through
each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred
chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We’ll do it
tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch?
Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"?
When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened
gift… thrown away. Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the
music before the song is over.
"Life may not be the party we hoped for… but
while we are here we might as well dance!"
(Unknown)
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