Earlier this week I received a text from one of my pals. He made mention of wishing that we were back in the fifth grade so that we could play softball and then if we got lucky we could watch as one of our classmates fell off the swings. Then we could go celebrate the day by playing our kazoos! While all of that might seem silly and contrite, that's how we rolled back then and there's nothing wrong with remembering the past and wishing for a simpler time when hanging out with friends and playing softball were all that mattered.
It's hard to fathom that fifth grade was so long ago. Where has the time gone? One moment I'm remembering life as a rambunctious progeny and then adulthood snaps me back to the reality that I'm too old for that fifth grade stuff and then it throws in the reminder that we all have an expiration date. I hate it when it does that. Perhaps the difficulty with remembering the past is that it causes you to remember that life is finite and that we all have less time than we realize.
So where is that fifth grade kid? Sometimes I think that it's easy to get stuck in the ruts that our minds make for us. Ordinary days have a way of lulling us into believing that you can never recapture that youthful spirit of the past and that there shouldn't be any urgency with living a life well lived. I wonder, whatever happened to celebrating each day and playing kazoos? Whatever happened to viewing the world through fifth grade eyes? Perhaps we all think that one day we might be able to stop "adulting" long enough to celebrate life the way that we used to and throw caution to the wind.
So, my friends text was just a reminder to me that life is short. Now that I think about it, maybe it actually does do a person good to look back. Life goes by so quickly that you can't wait for someday to start living with the exuberance of a childhood lost. His text was a reminder that today is someday. His text was a reminder that our days are numbered and since nobody knows what that number is then we should live the hell out of today and everyday.
Be yourself. Eat the cake. Buy the shoes. Don't be so hard on yourself. Tell someone that you love them. Write a "thank you" note. Stop being your own Kryptonite. Have a second piece of cake. Appreciate the lines on your face as mementos of a life well lived. Play a kazoo. Laugh at yourself. Climb the mountain. Be silly.
Do something worthy of the day. I'm still learning how to live everyday to the fullest. Today I not only had the extra large coffee but I had the donut too. And it was good. From now on, I'm going to try to live life to the fullest so that when Death finally does knock on my door I'll be wearing my party pants when I answer.
Be Well.
Bill
