Seize the Moment

Technology has changed the way we live. You know that.

Now it's even changing the way we die.

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I have a friend who is just possibly the wisest woman on the planet. She lives by a three-word philosophy: seize the moment.

Too many people, she says, 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. She wonders how many women on the Titanic skipped dessert in an effort to cut back.

How many women will eat at home because by the time their husband suggested they eat out, something had already been thawed? Does the word, "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in for a visit and sat in silence while you finished that episode of "Jeopardy"?

I cannot count the times I have called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch together in half an hour?" She would gasp and stammer, "I can't."

The reasons?

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 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 even have to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the "conditions" are perfect:

We'll visit the grandparents more when Stevie is potty-trained.
We'll entertain more once we replace the living room carpet.
We'll go on that second honeymoon once we get those last two kids out of the house.

But life has a way of accelerating as you get older. The days get shorter, but the list of promises to ourselves only gets longer.

One morning, we awaken and all we really have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things have settled down a bit...."

When anyone calls my "seize the moment" friend, she is open to adventure and makes herself available for last minute trips. She keeps an open mind about new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. I talk with her for five minutes and I'm ready to trade my bad feet for a pair of roller blades.

You know, my lips had not touched ice cream in ten 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.

[Mikey's Funnies, edited by Mark Raymond]

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WORDS for YOUR WEEK: "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." (Helen Keller, with thanks to Molly Rhea's Quotes of the Day)

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