The Right Time

Today is the Day!

“It keeps coming down to this: there is no tomorrow, only a string of todays.”

Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening)

Yesterday, I was sitting in my Ophthalmologist's waiting room—waiting for my eyes to dilate, squinting at the book in my hand that I could no longer see. The door to the exam suite opened and an old man shuffled out, using a cane to make his way to the check-out desk. He was tall and thin and gray from head to foot. The Office Manager behind the glass window began to scroll through the calendar on her computer screen and finally said to him, “Mr. Jones, the doctor wants to see you again in a year...” and proceeded to give him options for next year's appointment. I watched, wondering whether he would still be here in a year. He looked to be on his last leg to me. When my time came to check out, the receptionist said, “Ms. Philips, the doctor wants to see you in two years.” Then we went through a series of dates and times, etc. I went out wondering how I could possibly know what I would be doing in two years; would I be here in Birmingham, would I even be?

These are questions I've never before asked myself. When we are young, or even middle-aged, we don't think in such terms. We live our lives planning for the future as though it were a given. But as we age, the awareness that time is not all out front, that most of our life is now in the past, begins to creep up. It's not something I lay awake nights worrying about; I'm healthy and of sound mind (most of the time) right now. But it is something I'm aware of. My friend, Mary Virginia, is celebrating her ninety-sixth birthday this month. She's going strong and continuing to live her life, though she's well aware that it cant' last too much longer. I'm reading a book she loaned me, written by Kathryn Tucker Windham in the last of her ninety-three years: She: The Old Woman Who Took Over My Life. In her ever clear-headed and humorous style, she wrote of the changes that came unbidden and unforeseen as she plowed into her ninth decade. It was published posthumously.

The truth is, none of us knows how long or short the road ahead will stretch. All the more reason to live for today, enjoy the moment, be fully present right here, right now. Whether you are young or old or in between, today is the most precious gift you have been given. Live it as though it were your last. That way, when you do come to the end of the line, you can look back and say, 'I've lived a good life; I've done everything I wanted to do, and I've loved all of it.' What better epitaph than that?

In the spirit,

Jane