...and so they say. It doesn't mean that we literally have to party everyday of our lives but what it figuratively means is that we really have to learn how to spend our lives as we see fit...with responsibility.
Responsibility may connote seriousness and that runs counter to the primary premise of enjoying life or living life with fun. Living life as we want it, leading it with recklessness will either make our lives short (life cut short) or otherwise (live to be a hundred but life seem empty and depressing).
As the cliche goes:
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
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 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.
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 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!"
Posts
That was a fabolous piece. Thanks for emailing that to me. I might print it out and read it every morning when I curse out loud because I have so much work to do. LOL
ReplyDeleteKen, it's a pleasure to share it to everyone. Nice that you liked it. =)
ReplyDelete