One Of These Days I'm Going To

I don't frequently pass
along something someone else has written, but I make
rare exceptions when I find a piece that speaks simply,
sincerely, and directly to the importance of credible
connections in our lives. This is one of those
pieces.

"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 often have your kids dropped in to
talk to you 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
Rollerblades 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 do . . . not something on your TO
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? Why are you waiting?

"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?

"When you worry and hurry
through the 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."

It is
National Friendship Week. Go for it!