One Day to Live

If you had only one day to live, what would you do? You might first take care of your loved ones by making sure that all of your financial affairs, and any loose ends are tidied up. Then you might get a hold of anyone that you need to say something to. Surprisingly, you would more often than not have something nice to say. Faced with only a day, the fear that feeds resentment melts away.

Then you might eat some ice cream, or smoke a few cigarettes, maybe watch a sunset for the last time, noticing how exquisitely beautiful it is, and maybe pet your dog. And that night, you would hold the one you love, very tight, and notice how beautiful she is as well, and always has been.

Then you might reflect on your life; the mistakes you made, the triumphs, thinking not only of your own successes, but the assistance you received from all the unselfish people in your past, the ones you never remembered, until this day; the ones that helped you out.

Maybe you will wonder what in the world you were thinking about when you gambled away so many possibilities of expressing love. My, how quickly life goes by. And perhaps you now understand, at last, the really important things, and how you could have made life so much easier for so many others. But you did the best you could with what you had, and as Frank Sinatra once said,"You did it your way."

And you might wonder, why can't I live each day like this, as if it's my last? Such a good question. What is it, exactly, that moves your attention off things that are so important? Why is it that you seem to think you have so much time left to do these things later? You can never be sure you know.

You might have only a day.