important message...I think a "must read"

<p>I got this from a friend via email. I loved it so much, I wanted to share it. I at least need to read something like this everyday. I hope you find some value in it too. Unfortunately I don’t know the original author. </p>

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<p>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. </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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? </p>

<p>How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television? </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>Because people 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! </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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.’ </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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? </p>

<p>Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you. </p>

<p>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? </p>

<p>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 her sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say ‘Hi’? </p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>I weigh 10 pounds more than I did two years ago because I got very tired of not eating. Just couldn’t go through life turning down all the yummy stuff.</p>

<p>I can surely use the reminder to take time for the little things. It’s way too easy lose focus and forget about to stop and smell the roses. I caught myself wondering where the time goes during an infant’s baptism in church last Sunday!</p>

<p>You have no idea how timely this was for me. Thank you so much!!</p>

<p>Very inspirational and something I really do need to take to heart. Thanks for posting it!</p>

<p>Wonderful post!</p>

<p>Thanks. I’ve now read it three times…if only I could make it stick.</p>

<p>If young parents only knew that the baby/toddler/pre-school phase is over in a blink of an eye. My D does cheer and several of the younger girls have even younger siblings…oh, to see those little girly girl three years olds prancing around…it makes me remember my own little princesses…Did I play with them enough?</p>

<p>Thanks for posting this,Starbright.</p>

<p>I’m not a parent, but this reminded me of the wordless montage from “Up,” which is one of the most moving scenes in cinema I have seen. If you have seen it, and have a heart, I think you know what I mean–and I think it definitely relates.</p>

<p>I have read this many times in the past and have slowly incorporated it into my life.</p>

<p>I don’t always eat dessert, but I do enough that I don’t feel like I’m totally denying myself that pleasure.</p>

<p>I almost always turn off the t.v. when one of my kids wanders into my room and use the opportunity to have a really nice conversation.</p>

<p>I have my whole family at my house for Christmas every year even though I’m embarrassed by the electrical tape that holds the faucet in a way so it doesn’t leak. Even though my counters are chipped and the floors need replacing, because H just won’t step up and agree to update/correct the problems. I still have a great time with my family and just laugh about all of those things to them.</p>

<p>I am actively looking for a “seize the moment”’ kind of friend when my nest is empty in a couple of years. Unfortunately it will not be with H because he does not want to seize any moments. That won’t hold me back :)</p>

<p>I incorporate it into my life to the extent possible, always trying to let it infiltrate more and more of my life.</p>

<p>LOVE IT :D</p>

<p>Awesome Starbright - thanks for posting!!! I agree about that montage from “Up”, that and the episode from Ken Burns’ National Parks series about the couple that would return to the parks throughout their marriage made me blubber and think “why aren’t WE doing that??”</p>

<p>I gotta get rid of that living room carpet…</p>

<p>While I’m hardly a perfect per son (hardly!!), several years ago I realized that I really wanted to entertain more. I decided to give up the quest for perfection in entertaining. </p>

<p>I bought some inexpensive tablecloths from BB&B and stopped using the linen ones; I stopped obsessing that I didn’t have enough formal dining room chairs and just move my kitchen chairs in to supplement them; and I stopped worrying about making chateaubriand and instead make hamburgers or a casserole. </p>

<p>The point is to enjoy the company, and now I do!</p>

<p>momlove, had to laugh when I read about the electrical tape on the faucet. I thought I was the only one to do that!!! Actually, I used packaging tape and it looked ridiculous. I just said I never had the time to pick out a new faucet and then wait around while my plumber installed it. This went on for several months. Every time my faucet “sprung a leak” I would get out the tape! Finally, I realized just how stupid it was, bought a nice faucet and called my plumber. The reality was I had plenty of time to do what I thought I didn’t have time for and after that I promised I would try not to put off those little mundane things that make life “life”. Thanks for the laugh.</p>

<p>Great post. I’m going to be conscious of the little enjoyable parts of today.</p>

<p>Great post. Thanks.</p>

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<p>I ask myself that question almost everyday.</p>

<p>this was my New Years resolution, essentially-- and so far it has been working wonderfully. And what makes me laugh is-- I think I actually get MORE done now. Letting up on my perfectionism, enjoying life, gave me an energy I didn’t have before.</p>