SCHEDULING OUR HEADACHES

A friend sent this to me and in the subject line wrote, "Read this very slowly...it is pretty profound.  I do not know the source. And I edited a bit.

"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 stopped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched television or talked on the phone?

 

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't, I have clothes that have to dry, my hair is dirty.  I wish I had known yesterday.  I had a late breakfast and it looks like rain.  She died a few years ago.  W 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.

 

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 one of my friends calls she is always off to somewhere exotic.  Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. I am envious. 

 

So 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 an what would you say?  And why are your waiting?

 

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the raining lapping on he 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 answer. And in your haste do you see the sorrow of a friend? Or do you simply say, "Sorry about that," and move on to another topic. 

 

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is an unopened gift...thrown away.  Life is not a race.  Take it slowly.  Hear the music before the song is over.  If you love some one...tell them."