General Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Meaning of life

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Dave

Dave Report 6 Oct 2003 21:27

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND. This was just mailed to my wife and I thought I would share the sentiment. Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible. How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television? I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gasp and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." ...She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promiseswe make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect! We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to", "I plan on", and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you. Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed abutterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"? When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over. It's National Friendship Week. Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends Dave

Anna

Anna Report 6 Oct 2003 21:38

That's really nice David - thanks for that! Tho in my case the dieting has to continue, that is one of the things I am always putting off!! - I do feel better after I have done it tho! Anna

Unknown

Unknown Report 7 Oct 2003 02:57

yes David - life is too short - and we often never get the chance to tell the people we love just how much they mean to us or they leave us before we get the chance to say goodbye. When they die we cry , the tears arent for them but for US, our own selfishness, how their passing is going to affect our lives. We should stop and think - about how their being in our lives has made us the people we are - and instead celebrate their lives and not mourn their passing. We cry because we miss them and when events happen in our lives and they are no longer there to share the news - we cry. I wont stop these tears because they are an antiseptic, they start the healing process - You may feel a right plonker by doing it but please tell those that mean the most to you that they do - before its too late. Sheila x

Unknown

Unknown Report 7 Oct 2003 04:05

That's one for my book of clippings of beautiful and inspirational prose and poems David. And She you really do have a way with words, and they'll go in my book too. Thankyou both for the reminder to enjoy and make life meaningful today, and not wait until tomorrow! Love, Di.xx

Unknown

Unknown Report 7 Oct 2003 13:32

If you are travelling through life too quickly to enjoy the scenery, you need to slow down.

Angelic Alaina

Angelic Alaina Report 7 Oct 2003 17:47

Thank you for that David Its true every word of it, its like the 'what if's' and 'maybe's' that you ask yourself when that person you love and care about so much is no longer in your life and there's so many questions you still need to ask but nobody is there to answer them. She, totally agree with everyword you say but we shall keep our chins up hun no matter what. Alaina xx

Lynne

Lynne Report 7 Oct 2003 19:21

David that was wonderful,Thanks, Lynne.

Elizabeth A

Elizabeth A Report 8 Oct 2003 00:21

Very moving. Thanks for sharing. Liz

Lynne

Lynne Report 8 Oct 2003 19:43

just visiting my life long friend Lynne and she has made me read your letter it certainly makes you realise life is here for living and we are not really here very long. thanks for that Dave from Denise.