I just came across a letter/poem that I have never read in full before. It's been around a while and many of you may already be familiar with it. I hope so. Since I'm always nagging you about life being too short, it seemed appropriate to dedicate a special post to it here on my blog, especially at the start of a fresh week. I am doing it as much for myself as for you, as now I'll have it in a place where I can refer to it again and again for inspiration.
Unfortunately, the author is unknown. Fortunately, that gives me a little leeway to juizz it a bit.
We Might As Well Dance
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 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 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 we cram so much into our lives, 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 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 settle down a bit."
My lips have not touched ice cream in ten 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. 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. The other day I stopped the car and bought a triple-scoop cone. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.
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 someone, "'How are you?," do you hear the reply?
Have your kids dropped in to talk and then just sat in silence while you watched Jeopardy on television, or sat immersed in your iGadget?
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 and let a good friendship die? Just called to say "Hi?"
When anyone calls my "seize the moment" friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind for 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.
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?
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!
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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy. LITS*!
*Life Is Too Short!
