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Fwd: A thought..

Ok folks- this is what I call "thought provoking."
Hope it doesn't bug nobody.
Kathy
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Forwarded message:
Subj:    A thought..
Date:    97-11-10 16:15:25 EST
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THOUGHT   OF   THE   DAY   
			Treat this day as the first and last day of your life.

          My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's  bureau
and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package.  "This," he said, "is not a slip.
 This is lingerie."   He discarded the tissue and  handed me the slip.  It
 was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of  lace.  The
 price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still  attached.  "Jan
bought this the first time we went to New York, at  least 8 or 9 years  ago.
She never wore it.  She was saving it for a special occasion.  Well, I guess
this is the occasion."   
         He took the slip from me and put it on  the bed with the other
clothes we were taking to the mortician.  His  hands lingered on the soft
material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.
  "Don't ever save anything for a special occasion.  Every day you're alive
is a special occasion."    
         I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that
followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that
follow an unexpected death.  I thought about them on the plane returning to
California from the Midwestern town where my  sister's family lives.  I
thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done.  I
thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were
special.    
I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life.
        I'm reading more and dusting less.   I'm sitting on the deck and
admiring the  view and spending less time in committee meetings.
        Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor,
not  endure.  I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish  them.
 I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every
special event--such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first
camellia blossom.
         I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it.  My theory is
if I  look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries
without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks
in hardware stores and tellers in banks have  noses that function  as well as
my party-going friends.
      "Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my
vocabulary.      If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and
hear and do  it now.
     I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she
wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted.   I think  she
would have called family members and a few close friends.   She might have
 called a few former friends to apologize and mend  fences  for past
squabbles.  I like to think she would have gone out for a  Chinese dinner,
 her favorite food.  I'm guessing--I'll never know.     
        It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I
knew that my hours were limited.  Angry because I put off seeing good Friends
whom I was going to get in touch with--someday.  
        Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to
write--one of these days.  Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and
daughter often enough  how much I truly love them.
        I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that
would add laughter and luster to our lives.  And every morning when I open my
eyes,  I tell myself that it is special.
         Every day, every minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God.
     
     by Ann Wells
     Los Angeles Times
     4/14/85
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