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.
I got to thinking one day about all those women on the
Titanic who
passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to
cut back >From
then on, I've tried to be a little more
flexible.
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
favorite: "It's
Monday." ...She died a few years
ago. We never did have lunch together.
Because Americans
cram so much into their 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 out of 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.
My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love
ice cream.
It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my
stomach with a spatula
and eliminate the digestive process. The
other day, I stopped the car and
bought a triple-decker.
If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would
have died
happy.
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!"