When I get upset, I cook and clean – mindless activities( for me) that I can do while thinking.. Today another Caramel Apple pie from my column Food for Fall .
And then I write. And I am thinking:
We should all remember to make time for the people and things that are important to us. time is precious, and you can never get it back.
As I write this today, our friends are at a funeral. My husband has a network of childhood friends, who all still stay in touch (they don’t know how fortunate they are to have this longstanding network). My husband’s best childhood fried came home to find his 24 year old son, seeming healthy and full of life, dead on the floor from natural causes. My heart breaks for his parents. As I said in my on line entry into the funeral book, parents should not have to see their children leave this world before themselves.
If nothing else when you read this, tell the people who are important in your life that you love them. IF that’s hard to do (my family for instance, i not particularly expressive with words), SHOW THEM. Which is why I cook and bake.
And moving on from expressions of love, do the THINGS you love. For me that moves on into photography, walks in the country, and gardening. An evening with friends around the fire pit, watching the birds at the feeder and making something in the kitchen. Getting out to explore the local area of the Adirondacks, participating in local events.
We all get the same amount of time. The death of a young man makes me wonder what comes next – we never know how long we, or our loved ones, will be here. I’ve been a workaholic most of my life, with endless days filled with 10-12 hours of work. I don’t want that anymore.
Life is too short not to enjoy it. On a death bed, I doubt anyone ever said they wished they’d worked more.
Please – make your bucket list and start working on it. What are the things you enjoy in life? Or the things you’d list to do? And when will you do them?