OLD DIARY

Make Every Moment Count


My head is reeling with bad news and today all I want to say is:

Make Every Moment Count

3_27c_2012_Celebration-of-Life-1024x718There are no guarantees in life.  None of us knows how long we may have to wander this globe, to do some good (hopefully), to share some laughter and shed a few tears, and to love those who are special to us.  Don’t count too much on what you’ll do 5 years from now, or 10 years from now, or when you retire.  Too many people I knew never made it to retirement.    Make every moment count.

And even if you do make it to that magical time you’re looking forward to — there’s nothing to say you’ll be able bodied, or have sufficient resources to do those things you’ve been dreaming about.  Make every moment count.th

The phone rang a day ago to tell us that someone near and dear to us is in hospice care.  They aren’t much different in age than our daughter (a few years) and we’re told they have end stage liver failure and aren’t expected to survive.  Peg & I are devastated.  You don’t expect phone calls like that about people half one’s own age.

We have been fortunate in that we haven’t had stupid friends:  not the kind who drive drunk, or who argue with cops in the middle of the night, or mess with drugs, or drug pushers, or other users.  I’ve always been pretty plain about the fact that we aren’t those people and we don’t tolerate those people in our lives.CelebrateLife

But being fortunate doesn’t mean we’ve been untouched by tragedy; nor does it mean that our hearts don’t ache for those closer to the situation.  If I could I’d share more details — because sometimes it’s the details that prevent others from following the same course — but that’s not my place.  All I can say is,  Make Every Moment Count.

Thanks for stopping by,  I’m sorry I’m not chipper and perky this morning, maybe tomorrow I’ll be back in form.

 

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13 thoughts on “Make Every Moment Count”

  1. DK says:

    I’m sorry about your friend and will pray for you and Peg and their family today. We’ve definitely been through a hard season of losing people dear to us this year, too, not just my Mom. Makes me also realize how short this life really is.

    Liked by 1 person

    • DK — thanks.
      I guess that for me it’s been a little while since we’ve lost someone this close and even though they are 2,000 miles away their youth and the fact that the cause was at least partially self-induced still point out the poignancy of their passing.
      Ya know, I’ve often talked with friends about the fact that there comes a time in life when you start going to more funerals than weddings, make more hospital visits than get invited to baby showers; we are at that point in life.
      Faith assures me that death is nothing to be feared — I know where I’m going and I know I’ll see my friends again. But no one I know — no matter their faith — is in a rush to get there. This current life is pretty grand. And I fear it’s the pain that makes joy the more exultant and darkness that makes the light even more desirable.
      Go in Peace, my friend.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Peter,

    Your words so eloquently say what we both feel about life. Seeing so many miss out on a chance at retirement, we urge people to do what they can to not miss out. Thank you for posting this today!

    Jim

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    • You’re welcome, Jim,

      When I was still in my late 20’s we lived in Geneva Illinois and I was working for a company in Batavia. They had a wonderful old gent in the plant who was the keeper of the blueprints — in those days of real blueprints on real paper stored in real filing cabinets. He had only ever worked for one company, and had been there something like 47 years.

      Pressing on to 80 years and not being in super shape for getting blueprints out of bottom drawers he was forced to retire.

      His job was so much to him that the week after retirement he came “in to work” every single day. At the end of that 1st week he was told he could not return. He died 1 week later.

      That changed forever my view of retirement and company loyalty.

      >

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Linda Sand says:

    I’m so sorry for you and friends going through this. I hope the dying one is receiving palliative care. I wish there was something like that for those also affected.

    You story in the comment above reminds me how often I’ve wished companies were as loyal to employees as some employees have been to those companies.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Since writing this article she passed. Too sad when someone’s own actions bring about their early demise. sigh.
      Yeah — loyalty is a concept that seems to have passed from the social scene though it’s still to be found in a few places!

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  4. Mrs. P says:

    I was very moved by your post and admittedly, worried at first that the news was about you or Peg. Though I am relieved it isn’t I am sorry that someone close to you has had their life cut short.

    I fully agree with making things count, NOW. Sometimes it is when we hear of some other person’s tragedy that we learn important lessons in our own life…and hopefully by sharing it might somehow help another.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yup. I agree wholeheartedly!
      It has always seemed to me that I more easily accept the passing of ‘older’ people but when they are younger than myself, or about the age of our daughter it’s just so tragic — literally 1/2 (or more) of a life unlived.
      Yet, and all, I fully believe that barring accidents and mass shootings people mostly get the life they ‘deserve.’ I say that in the sense that much of what happens to us is the result of our own actions/beliefs/habits/ideas/genetics. Sometimes we pass on to our kids our failures — in the biblical sense to the third and fourth generation.
      We always took time for each other, a little time for enjoyment, a little time for work, but we have tried to LIVE our life as it came along in case we never made it to this point. Fortunately we did. But a lot have not and I really do feel their loss.

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      • Mrs. P says:

        I think I neglected the balance aspect of the first half of my life but I certainly am doing all of that in the second half. Some might think it selfish but I figure I spent the first half in service of others and being a little bit selfish has actually made me a better, happier person.

        Liked by 1 person

      • As I see it, our culture doesn’t see much value in BALANCE. With our emphasis on sports and WINNING anyone who is willing to say that winning has to be balanced with anything but winning doesn’t get much respect and if you learn that in one aspect of your life it’s hard to apply balance to others — it’s like some creeping crud, an insidious infection.
        Like you, I was big on service to others. from age 16 to 46 I gave away years and years of service. For a good number of those years we basically lived off Peg’s salary so that I could do various forms of volunteer work. I ran a printing press, published a magazine (editing, compositing, and distribution), I traveled the country lecturing, even made a trip through France, Germany and Poland as well as several speaking trips to England and one to Australia. It was great but eventually I learned that sheep have teeth and that experience pretty much burnt me out. And there was one year when I didn’t, couldn’t do much of anything. And a couple more when I was healing emotionally. When you care a lot and have to give up, let go, it’s not much different than healing from the grief of a lost loved one. I was frustrated, angry, hurt. about myself, not others — I had seen and known from watching other people experiences that what happened to me was 100% predictable — to don’t change a movement. But it was important for me to try. Still and all I came away from that time limping (metaphorically) and it took some serious effort to recover. And since about 2000 I have said I did that, now I need a little time for myself.
        Out of it all, I’m glad I did everything I did. I would not change one bit, even the hurts. But I’m also a little wiser now, and a lot more tired. I don’t have the ‘fight’ in my now. I want and need other things — and we’re finding them this way. 🙂

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      • Mrs. P says:

        You and I have discussed this before. Our lives were similar in many ways, I was just in a different flock. Our recovery and certainty that we would not have done it differently is also the same. I may be tired but boy am I enjoying life! 😀

        Liked by 1 person

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