Time to enjoy life

A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a
silk paper wrapped package: "This, - he said - isn't any ordinary
package." He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and
the box. "She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years
ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I
guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to
the other clothings he was taking to the funeral house,
his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:
"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is
a special occasion".

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.
I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.
I spend more time with my family, and less at work.
I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up
to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses
every day. I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if i feel
like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it
whenever I want to.
The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my
dictionary.

If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do
it now.
I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she
wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have
called her relatives and closest friends. She might call old friends to make
peace over past quarrels. I'd like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food.
It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my
time had come.

I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would
meet, letters... letters that I wanted to write "One of these days". I would
regret and feel sad, because I didn't say to my brothers and sons,
not times enough at least, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring
laughter and joy into our lives. And, on each morning, I say to myself
that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is
special.