Sunday, April 19, 2009

Procrastination

copied from an email someone sent me ...


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/friend (etc.) 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.

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 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. 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 roller blades 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 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.

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?

8 comments:

steveroni said...

dAAve, I am speechless! THAT is "good shit"!

Findon said...

Oh boy that was good Daave. You are so right. I read theother day that the average human spend 12 years sat in front of the telly. Imaginne what you could do with 12 years. You are so right and I am so glad you had the ice cream. It's the meaning of Live and let Live. The first "Live" means LIVE , really live, go for it, do it, make the mistakes , have fun, make a fool of yerself.
Sunday morning and what a way to start. Bloody Marvellous.

Scott W said...

We all get to make choices. I am grateful for that.

Scott M. Frey said...

I am one of those who indulges...I don't mind doing things that please me cuz life is too short... But, I have to be careful, it is after all, all about balance lol

great post!

One Prayer Girl said...

This is a totally perfect post - a beautiful email for this glorious Sunday.

I will heed all that it says. Life is so very short. I threw much of my life away, but no longer. No, absolutely no longer.

I do my best to live life to the fullest.

Thanks dAAve,
PG

Bill said...

I'm trying to decide what flavor ice creams I'm going to get.

Anonymous said...

nice. thanks for sharing it. you rock, daave!

Syd said...

That's what I did. Just what I wanted to do and it was great. Thanks. Great post.