We tend to behave as if we have all the time in the world. We put off traveling to exotic places. We delay our fun to work, make more money and “get ahead” in life. We talk about superficial topics when we get together with our friends and family, instead of looking directly into someone special’s eyes and telling them how wonderful they are.
How many days do you have left on this planet?
Earlier this week someone suggested that I calculate how many days I might have left on this planet. Hmm…. that is an interesting activity. Since I tell people that I’m going to live to be 110, I calculated how many days that gave me. Then, I decided that even if I only lived to be 90, I probably should figure that number as well.
Wow! Talk about a perspective…. I have lived somewhere around 14,000 days and I have somewhere around 20,000 days left.
The truth is that I may have 20,000 days or I might only have today.
I’ve learned the difficult lesson that we don’t really know how many days we have left. My friend Nik thought he had lots of time to do lots of fun things like travel with me to the pyramids in Egypt. Instead, he went to sleep one night and didn’t wake up. He didn’t have a 30th birthday. He didn’t get married, and he didn’t have children (at least, none have shown up yet).
July 6th is his birthday and I always do something fun to remember the times we did share, the laughs we had, the fun… I have chosen to forget the times he drove me crazy or when we argued. After all, life’s too short. And, relationships are about joy, not sorrow.
This year I found the same wine we used to share together when we lived in England. I’m going to enjoy some pasta and wine to honor my friend’s memory. I am already raising my glass to toast Nik and all my friends who make my life more special!