Topic: Will you dance with me?
franshade's photo
Mon 04/27/09 08:50 AM
Will You Dance With 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 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?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

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? Let a good friendship die? Just 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.

Gossipmpm's photo
Mon 04/27/09 08:54 AM
Beautiful!!

lilith401's photo
Mon 04/27/09 08:56 AM
My son loves hiking. We went hiking Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are pink and have blisters on our feet. We saw waterfalls, jumped in the mud, had picnics, lost a hat down a ravine, and saw three snakes (awesome)....

We are exhausted yet happy, spending some incredible time together and created memories we will have forever.

Tonight we were going to play catch in the yard, but as it turns out we have baseball practice at the field with the team.

We are having tacos for dinner.... he wants tacos all the time.... so I make them. He uses more lettuce than he does meat, and is thrilled and delighted with that squeezy sour cream container.

Sigh...

It all adds up to big things.

p.s.
I highly recommend everyone watch all the Shrek movies... the dancing opportunities are MANY!!

franshade's photo
Mon 04/27/09 09:01 AM

My son loves hiking. We went hiking Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are pink and have blisters on our feet. We saw waterfalls, jumped in the mud, had picnics, lost a hat down a ravine, and saw three snakes (awesome)....

We are exhausted yet happy, spending some incredible time together and created memories we will have forever.

Tonight we were going to play catch in the yard, but as it turns out we have baseball practice at the field with the team.

We are having tacos for dinner.... he wants tacos all the time.... so I make them. He uses more lettuce than he does meat, and is thrilled and delighted with that squeezy sour cream container.

Sigh...

It all adds up to big things.

p.s.
I highly recommend everyone watch all the Shrek movies... the dancing opportunities are MANY!!

Sounds like an amazing week with your son!!! :banana:

I remember those days well and am glad to say, I am still making memories and trying my best not to take anyone/anything for granted.

lilith401's photo
Mon 04/27/09 09:02 AM
flowerforyou

I hear you....

no photo
Mon 04/27/09 09:04 AM
Thank you (((Fran)))

I think I needed to hear that today flowerforyou

franshade's photo
Mon 04/27/09 09:12 AM
:thumbsup: flowers flowers flowers

Inunabe's photo
Mon 04/27/09 09:30 AM
Wow, that almost made me cry, lolz. I think I had an epiphany at that moment, My life doesn't suck, I make it suck by not doing things. *Nods Nods* I think from now on I am going to seize life by the ball....Horns I mean, Lulz. I wish I would have seen that message five years earlier, coulda changed my life, but oh well, time only moves forwards, not backwards.

no photo
Mon 04/27/09 10:01 AM
I can only say seizing the moment has lots to say for itself. Yet commitments do also. I can give only one example that hurts me deeply to this day why seizing the moment wasn't a good choice.


My son was about 10 years old , fathers day.. he made me a gift. and waited all day in the driveway for me to show up . I was divorced. I choose a date instead had forgotten it was even fathers day. Thats no excuse I know. My son is now 39... and to this day speaking about this still brings tears to my eyes...


so seizing the day has its faults to. I loved what you had to say and it made me think about this. I guess sometimes its better to remember what gives you joy the most..