letters

February 24, 2004
This is just something I'm putting up for now 'cause I need it....as many of you know, it's very hard for me to open up, so this is how I'm doing it. And credit be given to where it's deserved 'cause God knows I didn't write any of this myself.

*MOST OF THE FOLLOWING ARE QUOTES
and sorry, I don't know the author for most of them

" I believe in the sun, even if it's not shinning. I believe in love even when I am alone. I believe in God even when He is silent."

"Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to."

"Prayer needs a heart, not a tounge." -Mahatma Gandhi

"Faith sees the invisible, feels the intagible and achieves the impossible."

"Our eyes were placed in front because it is more important to look ahead than look back."

SOME EXTRA STUFF THAT HAS COME TO MEAN A LOT TO ME

I am thankful...

For the wife...
Who says it's hot dogs tonight,
Because, that means she is home with me, not with someone else

For the husband....
Who is on the sofa....
Who is being a couch potato...
Because he is home with me, and not out at the bars.

For the teenager...
Who is complaining about doing dishes...
Because that means she is at home, not on the streets.

For the taxes I pay...
Because it means that I am employed.

For the mess to clean after a party...
Because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.

For the clothes that fit a little too snug...
Because it means I have enough to eat.

For the shadow that watches me work...
Because it means I am out in the sunshine.

For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing,
Because it means I have a home.

For all the complaining I hear about the government....
Because it means that we have freedom of speech.

For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot...
Because it means I am capable of walking...and that I have been blessed with transportation.

For a huge heating bill...
Because it means I am warm.

For the lady behind me in church that sings off key...
Because it means I can hear.

For the pile of laundry and ironing...
Because it means I have clothes to wear.

For the weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day..
Because it means I have been capable of working hard.

For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours...
Becuase it means that I am alive.

TAKE HOLD OF EVERY MOMENT
A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package.

"This," he said, "isn't an 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 ocassion. Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bad and placed the gift box next to other clothing he was taking to the funeral home, 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 occassion." I still think those words chaged 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 experiences 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 dont save my perfume for special occasions, I use it whenver I want to. The words, "someday" and "one day" are fading away from my dictionary. If its worth seeing, listening, 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 part quarrels. I'd like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food. It's the small thinkgs 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 taht this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute is special.
-An Indian Tantra

I'm not even close to finishing up this, but for now, I leave it here.