READ THIS VERY
SLOWLY.......
STOP
AND THINK ABOUT LIFE........
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?
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"?
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.
Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is
over.
In National Friendship Week it is important to remember
this lesson. Show your friends how much you care every day :-)