By: F. Kong
Ann Wells
writes a story for the Los Angeles time and her story has touched so many wives
all over the world through the facility of the Internet. Let me share it with
you:
My brother-in-law
opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped
package. “This,” he said, “is not a slip. This is lingerie.” He
discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade
and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on
it was still attached. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New
York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving
it for a special occasion.
Well, I
guess this is the occasion.” He took the slip from me and put it on the
bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands
lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and
turned to me. “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion.
Every day
you’re alive is a special occasion.” I remembered those words through the
funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all
the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the
plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister’s family
lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn’t seen or heard or done. I
thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were
special.
I’m still
thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my life. I’m reading more
and dusting less. I’m sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing
about the weeds in the garden. I’m spending more time with my family and
friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be
a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I’m trying to recognize
these moments now and cherish them. I’m not “saving” anything; we use our
good china and crystal for every special event-such as losing a pound, getting
the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.
I wear my
good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look
prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without
wincing. I’m not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware
stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going
friends’. “Someday” and “one of these days” are losing their grip on my
vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and
hear and do it now.
I’m not
sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn’t be here for
the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family
members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to
apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would
have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I’m guessing-I’ll never
know. It’s those little things left undone that would make me angry if I
knew that my hours were limited.
Angry
because I put off seeing good Friends whom I was going to get in touch
with-someday. Angry because I hadn’t written certain letters that I
intended to write-one of these days.
Angry and
sorry that I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly
love them. I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save
anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every
morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day,
every minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God.
Good
things are not meant to be kept. They are meant to be used and enjoyed. They
are meant to benefit others. Make an honest survey today. Are you still keeping
that particular something for a special occasion?
Are you
still dwelling on the street named “someday I’ll…….” “someday I’ll tell her I
love her, someday I’ll show him I care…….”
Every day
is a gift of God. Every good things come from God above. Don’t lose the good
thing that is meant for the here and now. Because good things are not meant to
be kept.
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