….so what are you saving it for?

Knowing she was dying of cancer, Erma Bombeck famously penned her last letter, a list of regrets she could do nothing about but would certainly avoid if she had it to do over again. Her list included:

• Burn the pink candle sculpted like a rose.
• Talk less and listen more.
• Invite friends over to dinner even if the carpet is stained.
• Eat popcorn in the ‘good’ living room
• Worry much less about the dirt…light a fire in the fireplace.
• Sit on the lawn with my grass stains.
• Never buy anything just because it is practical.
• More ‘I love you’s’ More ‘I’m sorry’s.’

Erma’s regrets reflect a common thread – “saving up” for some other time, presuming there will be some other time – and she understood too late how easy it was to drain away pleasure from today by thinking there would always be tomorrow.

Saving money “for a rainy day” is certainly sensible, and no one advocates wasting resources as a lifestyle. However, human lives are short and rather fragile. We are not meant to save our “living” for some future date. we are meant to live out loud right now, every minute. We are here to dance, to sing, to love, to create, to laugh, to cry, to LIVE.

WE ARE HERE TO LIVE!!!

Wear the expensive perfume.

Call your friends over for dinner – order a pizza, open the wine, don’t worry about the dust – and enjoy being surrounded by people who know the real you and would not change a thing.

Attend the art shows, concerts, festivals, and rallies.

Sit on the beach, or park bench, or fallen log or rock formation.

Turn up the music and dance, or sing, or cry or just listen.

Write, draw, paint, sculpt, perform, teach – whatever it is you do, share it with the world because you cannot take it with you.

Erma’s letter famously signs off with the very best advice for all of us,

“But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it .. live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!! Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.”