About Having a Choice and Choosing Well

March #SOL17 Day 4

Around the first of the month, when I sit down to write the mortgage and the assessment fee I find myself saying the same thing.  How can it be the first of the month already?  Wasn’t it just the first of last month, like last week?  Now it’s the first of this month?

I check the calendar.  Not only am I correct, I am almost late.  It is now the fourth of the month.  I panic.  It’s the fourth and it’s a Saturday.  That means the mailbox is visited less frequently by the mail carrier and these darned weekend days will cause my payment to be delivered to the office in Los Angeles even later and I’d better get writing checks and get myself to the Post Office….NOW!

How does time fly so fast?  Is it because we have more to do which causes us to have less time in which to do it?   People say time flies faster as we age.  Maybe it’s true – I think back to my childhood and how it seemed like I had all the time in the world to do the things that kids do….

Gone are the endless days of riding my bike outside.  Swimming from early morning till dark.  Visiting multiple friends’ homes in one day.  Laughing and playing until we fell in our beds that night from pure exhaustion.

Gone are the days of taking a bath in the evening and then going back outside to play in my pajamas in the street.  Making a tent in our screened-in-porch and pretending it’s our very own house even though we’re only 13.

Gone are the days of hanging out in my basement reading every single book and magazine available to me.  Sunday morning hand-in-hand trips to the library with my dad.  Feeling on top of the world.  Reloading my arsenal of reading material with the man I looked up to and adored.

Gone are the days of sitting close to my mom as she sewed.  The familiar hum as her foot gently glided on and off of the sewing machine pedal.  Dreaming about the Halloween costume or the new dress that I would soon be wearing.

Gone are the days……..wait a minute!  I have a choice. Rather than lamenting about what is lost and gone forever, I can bring back those lazy days in adult fashion.  I can still….

…Visit friends and laugh and play with them until our stomachs hurt and we are exhausted.

…Pretend and imagine the world in a new and exciting way, realizing that I have the power to make change happen.

…Spend endless hours reading and talking about what I’ve read with a special person in my life.

…Experience quality time with my one remaining parent and relish every second we still have together.

This is It!  One of the 8 Keys of Excellence.  I see it now.

I have the power to make the most of this moment and every moment around the corner.

Yes.  I will choose well.