Waiting for the Warmth- Maine on Feb 1

The days are getting longer. It is apparent each clear afternoon as we are now six weeks from the shortest day of the year. As it stays light later each day soon we will begin to feel impatient for spring and summer. I am impatient for spring on the first day in the late fall when I realize it is too cold out to do what I want. In short I spend half my life waiting for the other half. This is no way to live life.

Most people have the weekend off, those work the traditional 9 to 5 that is. For the purpose of this thought does that mean that in waiting for the weekend that they are spending 5 of their 7 days looking to the rest to actually live in and enjoy.

All of us need to do better. Life is too short. While I cannot do the outdoor things in the winter that I enjoy in the summer I should find a way to enjoy the winter months more.

Last week watching a television show about a gentleman who has been diagnosed with ALS and he spoke about his desire to live the left of his life to the fullest and that each of us should do so. This is something we all know. We all know that we need to enjoy life. We all have heard the cliches about no one on their death bed ever wished they had spent more time at work etc etc.

In the last few years I have had two brothers, a good friend from college, a niece and a nephew pass away prematurely. All of them thought that their lives would be much longer. None of them have a chance to change things now.

As I wait the diagnosis of my illness I tell myself that I need to enjoy life, do what I want to do.

This is the conflict in our life. We are told to plan for the future, squirrel money away, save it for a rainy day and yet we do not know how many days we have left. How does one balance the two. In the movies when an asteroid is heading for the Earth the powers that be worry about telling people, after all people who know they have a limited time on earth will act with abandon. If people all knew the point of their own demise the world would fall apart. This is why we are not allowed to know I guess. Only people terminally ill are allowed to know and they usually are so depressed they cannot mess up the world.

Last summer my wife insisted that we take a trip to Florida with the kids. My thought at the time was we should wait, there would be a better time for us financially. She was right. With my health concerns that trip was not one we could take in the same way again.

i guess in life we never will know the balance between enjoying today and looking forward to and planning for the future. I surely do not. I do know this however, we do not know the future, so sometimes when given an opportunity to make our future we better do it.

Me I am not waiting for spring. I am turning up the heat, putting on my shorts and putting on sunscreen. My living room is my backyard. Sometimes you cannot wait