The Brevity of Life

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." -Indian saying.

Life is but a whisper, a wind that blows by us and gives us a chill and then gone. We live our lives as though we will live forever, when we should be living our life as though we will die tonight. Our calendars are full of the tomorrows, but tomorrow is never promised to us. Only the now. I'm not saying that we shouldn't make future plans, but if you live in the future always scheduling something to be done, and never do it, you may find yourself in the position of not being able to accomplish anything.

I'm a big fan of goals - short term, long term and in between. I make goals for myself, things I want to accomplish in a month, a year, a lifetime... but sometimes I forget to make goals for the day. When I wake up, take a breath, I should give a thought about what I want to accomplish today. Perhaps I want to tell my family I love them, maybe I want to make someone smile, or maybe I want to organize something in the house; there are all kinds of daily goals one might have.

It's just that with the passing of my uncle the other day, yet again I am slammed against the reality that one day, I'm going to die. I would like to live until I'm a hundred, but I may only live another day. What will I leave behind, if I die tonight? Will I be remembered by my grand kids, or my great grand kids for anything? Will my stories be told age after age? I want to leave a legacy for those that come after me. I want people to tell stories about me at my memorial, to remember things about my life - is that wrong? I don't want to be forgotten and neglected.

I want my ashes to foster the growth of a great oak, where birds will nest and then fly from the branches, allowing my soul to finally fly. If I can't live until I'm a hundred, I want this oak to live for hundreds of years for me.

Life is brief. Enjoy the life you are given, there's plenty of time to be dead - so if you're life is dead, revive it!

"Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw

10 Things for 2010

Ten Things I Will Do In 2010...

1- Spend more time with my mom and dad, because you never know how much time you have.
2- Get my kids out in nature at least once a month even if it's just a walk in the park.
3- Cut down my sugar drinks (esp sweet tea) to only one glass a day.
4- Get more active for my health and well being.
5- Save enough money for a second honeymoon in April 2011.
6- Learn more couponing skills to save us even more money.
7- Improve my photography skills through tutorials, seminars, classes, books, one-on-one.
8- Do more publishing - second book of poetry, and my mother's favorite - the professor (but I have to finish the rest of that book)
9- Volunteer more at the boys schools.
10- Teach my children in real, tangible ways to be appreciative of what they have. I.E. volunteering with the less fortunate or anything such as that.