Going Through Life Awake

I'm not big on email forwards, but this one? Special.

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Take Hold of Every Moment


A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a
paper-wrapped package:
"This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package."

He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

"She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She
has never put it on; was saving it for a special occasion.
Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box
next
to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had
just
died. He turned to me and said:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is
a
special occasion".

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.
I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.
I understand that life should be a source of experience to be lived up
to,
not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses
every
day. I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever
I want to. The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my
dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen
or do it now. I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she
knew
she wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think
she
might have called her relatives and closest friends
She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I'd like to
think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food. It's these small
things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.

I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would
meet,
letters... letters that I wanted to write

"One of these days".

I would regret and feel sad, because I didn't say to my brothers and
sons,
daughters and sisters, not times enough at least, how much

I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring
laughter
and joy into our lives..
And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day..

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

...copied





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