Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Life Is Too Short

I am sure that most of you have read this short thought. I received it as an email today and forwarded it immediately. However, this email really hit my heart and brought me to tears today. I don't know if it was because of my severe lack of sleep, my frustration with the fact that I had to put Kyra in an hour long time out or simply because I needed it. I think that it deserves a spot on a blog.


Too many people put off the things that bring 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 'Law and Order' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said ,'How about going to lunch in a half hour?'She would stammer,'I can't. I have clothes in the washer. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast,'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 ice-berg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you W ANT 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?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you 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.

3 comments:

Sherrie said...

Okay truthfully, I am the total opposite! But maybe a little too much because my house is never clean and I never get things done. You have no idea how many times we have plans to clean and I talk James out of it (after I make him pormise to not let me do it) and we watch a movie. I need to be somewhere in the middle.

SalGal said...

I wish more women realized these truths. I indirectly learned it from my mom. Our home wasn't the neatest growing up. It's caused me to be a less-than-stellar housekeeper. As a result of it, though, I feel that in my desire to become a better housekeeper, I've learned the difference between filth (gross!) and mess (just let it go and spend time with the kids before they hate you).

Thanks for all your comments on my blog, they make me feel fantastic!

Banks Family said...

That was good to read. I was out with Kara today at my moms and her and I were chasing butterflies. I have not done that for years. But I decided to be a kid again and have fun.