28
April 2001
Subject: Seize The Moment
Dear Ones,
Another Saturday is here and it's time to pass on some wise words I read recently:
I
have a friend who lives by a three-word philosophy: Seize the moment.
Just
possibly, she may be the wisest woman on this planet. 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 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 hips 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?
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?
You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.
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?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.
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
'Cause you never had time
To call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When
you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away...
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
-- Author unknown
Have a GREAT day and don't forget to "seize the moment".,
Don