What are we waiting for?

I few years ago, my brother-in-law, Bob, had me laughing hysterically. What he did was struck me as so funny that every time that I thought about it, I was amused again.

The background was that I told him about someone I knew who was diagnosed with cancer. So, the air was a bit tense. Bob pondered a moment and then said, quietly, almost as though he was thinking aloud, "What a relief that would be."

I didn't say anything. I waited. And he elaborated.

Bob verbalized a mock phone-call with his doctor, "Really, Doctor, I have only a year to live? Wonderful, that's just wonderful. Thank you." He hung up the pretend phone, sighed, looked relaxed in the shoulders, and a sense of content glowed about him.

"If I only had a year to live," Bob exclaimed, "I wouldn't be so worried about things. I'd enjoy my meals, I wouldn't rush, I'd take it all in with simplicity and grace."

"If I only had a year to live, I could finally just relax and really start living."

Funny how thinking we're going to live forever might take some of the joy out of living.

The truth is, of course, none of us know if this is our last year, last month, or last week on earth.

Spiritual-religious advice: Perhaps we should all seize the day. . . carpe deim. . . if only for a week.