Before
The Song is Over
READ
THIS VERY SLOWLY IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND
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 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 Stevie 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? Make sure you read this to the end; you
will understand why I placed this here in the
Motivational Section.
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?
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 his sorrow?
Ever
lost touch... and let a good friendship die?
Or
just make a call to say "Hi"?
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!!!
Brenda
DePriest
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