LIVE!

I visited my parents a few weeks ago. While I was there, I stopped by at the home of a friend of my mom's to help her out with a computer question she had. To give you a little background, this friend, Ms. Stone, is an amazing pianist and wonderful piano teacher in my hometown (my mom is also a piano teacher). She is originally from Louisville, so she was telling me about all the wonderful things she did while she was there. Then she started asking me questions. "Do you go to Iroquois Park much?" Um... no. "Do you go to the concerts at UofL? They have a lot of free events!" Um... I've been meaning to, but no... Etc. Etc. She paused, then looked at me and said something I'll never forget: "You aren't living! You're just existing." Ouch! But so true! I have all these things that I'd love to do around here (most of which are free): spend time at a park, attend concerts, see a ballet, spend time by the river, do the trolley gallery hop, find a good stargazing spot, play in the fountain... The list goes on. And I'm not doing them! I'm always "busy." But with what? Existing, that's what. So I'm taking out a new lease on life. The laundry can wait. I can give up an hour of sleep here and there. Dinner doesn't have to be magnificent. I'm going to LIVE! I'm going to take advantage of opportunities while I have them. I won't be perfect at this, but I'm going to try!

So thank you, Ms. Stone. I needed to hear that.