Feeling a Little Ann Landers-ish
Got this e-mail today - it's a message that bares repeating - not sure who wrote it -I get it in the e-mail every once in awhile and always read it through to the end. Not sure I always live it that way though.
"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.
'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but
while we are here 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 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.
'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but
while we are here we might as well dance!'"
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