How You Live Your Life

I had my old dog park friends over for lunch the other day.  Not that they're old, but they are from an old dog park, not the current park that I go to at Ocean Hills.  A few of us became good friends over the years we spent at Ranch Coastal, and when the park closed, we kept our friendships.  We have lunch together every now and again.  Kim is moving to Connecticut in a few weeks, so this was a farewell lunch for her.  Charlene got us talking about serious subjects, like how long we all have to live.  She got to thinking about that when she realized the life expectancy of her beloved Vishla (a dog) Bella, was about 8 more years.  She figures that to be her life expectancy too.

So Charlene wonders if she will live her life differently knowing how long she has to live.  I told her that none of really knows how long we have, but when a doctor has given you a finite amount of time, you do things differently.  First and most importantly, you don't spend time with people you don't like or want to be with.  How many times have you gone to dinner with a couple, and you really don't like the husband or wife?  I've done that more times than I can count, but when your time on earth is limited, you don't want to waste any precious hours doing something you don't want to do.

The second important thing is to live each day and each moment to its fullest.  I have seen this first hand with Ron.  He no longer feels he has to get up at 8am.  If he wants to sleep until 9am, he does.  We started getting the UT, and Ron spends the first hour of the day having a cup of Starbucks coffee from his Keurig and reading the paper.  If it's a nice day, he'll sit outside with Pepper.  There is almost nothing he'd rather do on a Tuesday morning.  Third, knowing that your life is limited allows you to be a little eccentric.  Who cares what others think?

Charlene has no idea how long she is going to live.  She's not sick, and she'll probably be around forever.  When the doctor has given you a range of life expectancy, things change.  Even a doctor's prediction may be way off.  People expected to live 18 months will often be around years later.  Enjoy each day.  Don't put off anything that you really want to do.  No one really knows what tomorrow will bring.