Day by Day

I suspect my kids really don't believe the hunk and I were ever young. The picture was taken when I was seventeen and he was just twenty-one. When I look at it, I can't imagine how I thought I was old enough to get married. I had already graduated from high school and was working full-time as an accounts payable clerk. That doesn't seem possible.

Within two years we had a baby. A year later, we had another. And six years after this picture was taken we lived two thousand miles from our families, alone and on our own with three small children.

Time has passed oh so quickly. As I read through the postings on my Facebook account so many people were writing about how anxious they were to move on to the new year--and how bad the last year was. I wanted to tell them don't wish away your life. One day you'll turn around and discover you're not only not young anymore. You'll discover you're not even middle aged!

Oh, no! You're heading into senior citizen territory! Your children are all approaching middle age. Crawling out of bed in the morning is a feat of courage and bravery. The act of tying your shoes is accompanied by groans and whimpers.

Nope. Live each day to the fullest. That might mean you vacuumed the living room. Or possibly you've run a marathon. But whatever you're capable of doing on that day, make it count. When the picture above was taken, I was in my mid-forties, had just graduated from college and was climbing a mountain every weekend. I'm glad I did those things while I was able to.

Now, in my retirement, I write stories that other people pay to read! Who would have thought my life would take such a detour?

Live, I say. Whatever comes in 2012, make each day count.

anny