8 19 03

Every
once in awhile, some unknown person out there in cyber land
sends me something that I think needs to be shared with
everyone. Often times, such as this, the person doesn’t give me
a name or any way to thank them or even identify them for their
efforts. Anyway, thought I’d give this to you for this week as I
felt it was too good to pass up.



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 gasp 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 Roller
blades 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.



Wasn’t that great? Good lessons for all of us…now go do it….
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