Questions 54 and 55

I got an email this week from my friend Pam George....she always sends profound emails to me....so I don't just hit delete....I always take the time to read them....this one was truly profound and thought provoking and sparked me to take the email and adapt it to my life. It began by stating that most of us tend put off something that brings us joy just because we haven't thought about it, don't have it penciled in on our schedule, didn't know it was coming or are simply too anal to vere from our routines.

Think about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to 'cut back the calories'. I don't know about you but I've tried to be a little more flexible!! How many women eat at home because our husbands didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to us?

How often have the kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while we watched some insipid show on television about people we don't know or care about? This was a big one for me. My parents live with me....and watch the game show network 24/7. Whenever my daughter comes to see them....she doesn't visit with them....she watches television with them. You can only talk during commercials. I have grown to hate the television for that very reason. I used to watch it at night....but I hate game shows....and until my parents go to bed that is all that is on in my house.

I cannot count the times I called a friend and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' only to hear them 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.' One day we will wake up and our friends will be gone.....we aren't getting any younger you know and we will never have lunch together again.

We cram so much into our lives, we tend to even 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 the baby toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get the 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.' This truly hit home for me last week when Frank came home complaining of chest pains. All of a sudden I was thrown into an unknown realm. I was looking at the fact that I could be a widow....and I did not like that at all. I sat in the room and thought about all the things we want to do, need to do, should do....and knew it was possibly too late. God gave me a second chance and believe me....I plan on siezing this moment....Carpe Diem it is.

When anyone calls I am going to be open to adventures and available for trips.I am planning to keep an open mind on new ideas. I want to have an enthusiasm for life that is contagious. After a five minute conversation with me I want you to be ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of roller-blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. Well....maybe not quite that extreme....but I do want my friends to be ready at a moments notice for what I have to suggest. Gas may be 5.00 a gallon this summer....but it is going to be the summer of the new me. I am going to seize the world by the horns and ride that puppy.

I stay on a perpetual diet. I have since the birth of my daughter, Kat....28 years ago....but you know....I love ice cream. It's just that in the past...I have felt that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. With my new zest for life and living next time I want ice
cream. I am going to stop the car and buy and ice cream....it does not have to be a triple-decker....but it will be ice cream...that way if my car hits an iceberg on the way home, I will die 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? My friend Bill lost his friend Morris this week....he sent me an email that said....he had just talked to him that morning....if he had known his conversation was going to be the last one he had....would he have said or done something different....I want to leave this world with no regrets! I think that is going to be my new mantra....instead of No Fear! Mine is No Regrets!

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? Do you really care?

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!'