Maybe a punch in the gonads is better than ice cream

It’s a message you hear all the time in some form.  It’s the sentiment that’s important and often forgotten although the words will change depending on the situation.  Basically, you should take time to enjoy what you have today because tomorrow it may be gone.  Life changes, and although that isn’t a bombshell, it is a deep thought if you choose to ponder for a moment or two. 

Who do you have in your life today that may not be here tomorrow?  Maybe it isn’t a person, but a job, or a hobby.  Just because today is today doesn’t mean tomorrow will be as good.  In life we gain and we lose, and I have been reflecting on loss because it seems I am surrounded by it.  I am lucky in life and have gained far more than I have lost, but I am on the opposite end as of late.  My losses have been deep and ongoing for a while now.  With the floods and the subsequent events it causes reflection.  My voice is small in all of this, but I am going to add it to the chorus anyway.

I know we can’t wait around for the other shoe to drop.  You don’t want to live in fear of what might come.  I would recommend the opposite, and that you love everything to the fullest extent possible that you have today. Your wife, your brother, your dog, your job, your day on the golf course… Whatever it is that is right in front of you to love, just love it more.  Hold on to it a little extra while it’s yours to hold onto. 

I have been through an incredible long term steady incline in quality of life in the past little while.  Reflecting on the last ten years (minus hiccups) I have reaped far more than I feel I have sowed.  Perhaps that’s the reason for the change, perhaps not.  I don’t want to question the deep philosophical side of this.  I just want to send up a smoke signal to all my readers around the world (and amazingly you are all around the world).  I want to let you know that I am loving you all extra today, and tomorrow I intend to do the same.  Thanks for wanting to get into my head and have a look around; Thanks for listening when I rant, and not switching off when I go too far; Thanks for making me feel good about myself.  It truly means a lot to me, and I realize more than ever that I have only one chance to say thank you because tomorrow is tomorrow, and I only have right now.

So carpe diem, or smell the roses, or live in the moment, or whatever words you need to hear, but when life changes for better or worse you need to know that the day you had today you loved it to your fullest capabilities.  That you won’t be remiss or regret what could have or should have been.  I have been trying to love more everyday for a few months now since I lost a dear friend.  Trust me, when it happens, you spend too much time thinking about what you should have done differently.  Thinking about things you could have done or should have done.  You wish for what you can’t have, and try to move forward knowing that life will just always be, pardon the lack of eloquence, less good.  The trees are not as green etc. etc.  Maybe it doesn’t last forever, and I am not saying that life will never be as good.  Life will just always be different, and you will miss something you can’t have back.  So love what you have right now, love who you are, and love everything you love more. 

Well you don’t have to actually.  The result will just be you end up like everyone else, and at the end of the day what is wrong with that…