It's a crazy world out there. But who am I to remind you of that. You probably have experienced plenty of drama within your own life that it seems a bit redundant for me to even point it out.
Maybe I am doing it for me, to remind myself of the obvious truth. You know what they say, if you want to learn something, the best way is to teach it.
Here's the lesson I want to teach/learn...
It's never too late to turn your canoe around and just let go of the oars that have burdened your beautiful hands. Now infested with wretched caluses, due to the unsurmountable quantities of energy you have exerted on them just trying to "go with someonelses flow".
Sound familiar? Try letting go of those oars, use your hand for something more powerful like manifesting your greatness, your potential. Let the current of the stream take you down the river of your dreams.
Life really is too short. This past weekend my partners 25 year old cousin passed away due to liver failure. Did she see it coming? Probably not until that fateful day earlier this year when she new something wasn't "right". She was a beautiful girl with such incredible joy and happiness in her voice. Regardless of what was going on around her, she always seemed to make the best out of things.
I never had the chance to meet her because of the same ole usual excuses - "I can't wait to come to New York to meet you and hang out with you guys" she would say to me on the phone. "When I get this job or that money ... " she would always continue.
She and her boyfriend bought a house and so the money never came in her short 25 years.
Makes me really bummed that we didn't just forgo that night on the town and send her a ticket ourselves.
But who knew she would be gone so soon. Certainly not us.
Without coincidence, tomorrow is the death anniversary of my paternal Grandmother, who I called "MeMa". While she was about 55 years Julie's senior, I can not deny that I selfishly wish there would have been just a few more years to add to her life as well. She died of complications due to Alzheimers, so unlike Julie, we knew that everyday was one day closer to deaths door for her.
She was/is incredible. She taught me truly how to live, how to not have regrets and how to forgive and forget. She provided for me opportunities that I may have never provided myself. When I was very young, we began collecting pennies and I would take them to her and we would put them in a special savings account she kept for me at her bank. When I turned fourteen, I really wanted to go to a particular acting school that's cost was not in my parents budget at the time. It was almost as if she had a special window into the future and knew that my life's path would take me down the road to entertainment. The next time I was at her house, she asked me if I would like to cash my pennies in for that class. Those pennies opened a door to my future, that only she could predict.
As a teenager, I moved away relatively young (ironically enough, to go to a performing arts school) and I remember how she was so strong and proud, concealing her disappointment that I was leaving . Shortly after I moved to New York and kept on keepin' on as they say. I took for granted that she would always be there, I guess.
On September 11, 2001 She called me and for the first time, begged me to move back to Orlando. "They're makin' movies here now" she said. "You can get a job at Universal Studios!" . Of course, I explained to her that moving back home was out of the question. After a long pause she recanted her disposition "Well, I guess you're right ... don't let those damn terrorists take your dream away".
I have no regrets, as she taught me well, but I do wish I would have turned several of those new Gucci Accessories in for a few more plane trips to visit her in those last 10 years of her life.
I don't know what your beliefs are or how you were raised - but frankly all of that is irrelavant. We are living in special times, and not just because people are dying, but because every day we do not live every moment as if it were our last, a part of us dies.
There is no amount of money, no fear and no regret worth living with that is worth right now. If you are taking the time to read this post- I thank you for sharing one of your special moments with me. God bless and Godspeed.
