| Don't Put It Off |
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 people 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 Steve
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.
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 people 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 Steve
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.
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