What if it were your last day?

The other day, watching the early days of spring (hurray sunshine!!), sipping my morning coffee on my patio, it suddenly struck me how bright the colors seemed, how sweet the smells.  Having lost two friends to cancer in the last year (one last month), I think about that sometimes.  If this were my last day, what would I regret?  What would I be grateful for?

I think I would regret letting time slip away so quickly, without savoring each moment.  So, I am trying to learn to savor - to sip the nectar of life as it comes my way.

I had such quiet joy, this past Saturday, as my two oldest daughters laughed over happy childhood memories.  Then they talked about the fun times they had babysitting for their little sister while I was at work, marching and dancing through the house to their favorite songs, singing at the top of their lungs, because they could.  My oldest stated that kids today are so "entertained" and "educated" that they don't always seem to have time for the expressions of imagination that she remembers having, playing dress up, having tea parties, reading, presenting a hand puppet play for their sister's one year birthday (they are 7 1/2 and 10 years older than her).  They are both successful women, happily married and with busy, often hectic professional lives.  Both college graduates, they gently (and not so gently) tease their "baby" sister as she finishes her second year of college, that she is such a "science nerd".  That my baby just turned twenty and wants to be an environmental scientist is such an amazing thing - where did the time go?

But, those happy memories of their childhood?  I guess I did some of the right things, and I'm glad I have memories of the many trips to the library, picnics in the park, crafts, tea parties, singing at the top of our lungs in the car - a moment to savor so many happy moments.