fallenangel

I just received this email from my female cousin. Normally i just delete junk mail but figured while i'm procrastinating from cleaning i might as well give it a go. I'm glad i did. Read and you may get the warm fuzzy feeling to... or else you'll hate me because i wasted a precious 5 minutes of your lifetime You don't necessarily have to comment back, just give it a read.



IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck
(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending
the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and
worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble
about his youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my
husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a
summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television
and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was
practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd
have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said,
"Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love you's." More "I'm sorry's."
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every
minute...look at it and really see it .. live it and never give it back.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.

Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.

I hope you all have a blessed day.


Another sentiment...


Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a Queen.
Age 8: She looks at herself and sees Cinderella.
Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an Ugly Sister (Mum
I can't go to school looking like this!)
Age 20: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too
short/too tall, too straight/too curly"- but decides she's going out
anyway.
Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin,
too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" - but decides she doesn't
have time to fix it, so she's going out anyway.
Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "clean" and goes
out anyway.
Age 50: She looks at herself and sees "I am" and goes wherever
she wants to go.
Age 60: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the
people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.
Age 70: She looks at herself &sees wisdom, laughter and ability, goes out and enjoys life.
Age 80: Doesn't bother to look. Just puts on a purple
hat and goes out to have fun with the world.


Maybe we should all grab that purple hat earlier.

__________________
all I wanna do is - give the best of me to you

maleficent

Thanks for sharing that....

Purple Hats are very cool!

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

__________________

Amethyst

Those were really good poems they made me stop and think about life and what is really important.

SixEdxMia

Awwww,Thanks girls! Reading these has put me in a better frame of mind,It's been one of those days..and they have reminded me wonderfully of all that I have overlooked today and plan not to overlook tomorrow.

I actually read the first one to my mother when she was sick.It's one of my absolute favorites.

One of Bombecks quotes that my mother passed on to me was..

Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop offs at tedium and counter productivity.

It suits me more than you know.

__________________
Honey,We're home.

Nancy

A few years back I received a similar email. It was about a girl who's best friend's wife had passed away. And the day before the funeral she goes over to visit him and finds him in the bedroom putting some beautiful lingerie on the bed. As they make eye contact he smiles sadly and says: "she was saving it for a special occasion" And so the girl decides to never save something for later.

Since I read that I've tried to live my life like that because you never know when your time is up

__________________
I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy.
I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

Supple Cow

Sentiments like these are good reminders to use the good china whenever it moves you.

__________________
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
(Michael Jordan)

txgirl

Very nice..thanks for sharing. Opens ones eyes up now doesn't it?

fallenangel

Another One

THE HOSPITAL WINDOW

A great note for all to read it will take just 37 seconds to read
this and change your thinking.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each
afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The
men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.
Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and
imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a
parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window
beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. He asked the nurse what
could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described
such wonderful things outside his window.
The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.......

She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is
doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that
money can't buy.

"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."

__________________
all I wanna do is - give the best of me to you

ariekitten

dude!!! maleficent, i performed that poem for a school prose/poetry contest once!!! it is such a fun poem!

__________________
I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III. Don't hesitate to call.
~Vash, Trigun

>'.'< kitty kitty, meow ^..^~

Trisk

This peom is a little bit different than the others but it has that same encouraging "go out and make a difference/sieze the day (or world)" type message. I really like it.

My I.Q.

when I was four years old
they tried to test my I.Q.
they showed me a picture
of 3 oranges and a pear
they said,
which one is different?
it does not belong
they taught me different is wrong
but when I was 13 years old
I woke up one morning
thighs covered in blood
like a war
like a warning
that I live in a breakable takeable body
an ever-increasingly valuable body
that a woman had come in the night to replace me
deface me
see,
my body is borrowed
yeah, I got it on loan
for the time in between my mom and some maggots
I don't need anyone to hold me
I can hold my own
I got highways for stretchmarks
see where I've grown
I sing sometimes
like my life is at stake
'cause you're only as loud
as the noises you make
I'm learning to laugh as hard
as I can listen
'cause silence
is violence
in women and poor people
if more people were screaming then I could relax
but a good brain ain't diddley
if you don't have the facts
we live in a breakable takeable world
an ever available possible world
and we can make music
like we can make do
genius is in a back beat
backseat to nothing if you're dancing
especially something stupid
like I.Q.
for every lie I unlearn
I learn something new
I sing sometimes for the war that I fight
'cause every tool is a weapon -
if you hold it right.

--Ani DiFranco

StickODynomite

I love stuff like that.

__________________
"The human mind is like a parachute, it works best when open."

veruca

i have a request...i have been looking for a poem-type thing like this...i saw it at a dr's office...and it was about the worth of time...like..ask a woman who has carried a baby and it is still-born what the worth of nine months is..or somehting like that...if u have it, can u post it?

__________________
How you turned my world, you precious thing
You starve and near exhaust me
Everything I've done, I've done for you
I move the stars for no one

RainbowBright

I love Erma Bombeck

I can't wait to get old.

Has anyone ever seen the Purple Hat group? It's this group of odler women who meet together in their purple hats. They are cool.

maleficent

Googling it finds the poem, or what I beleive to be the poem, on Somalia Online's site - written by someone named Darling Xalimo -but that domain is dead, and that appears to be the only place that has the poem

"Where has the time gone?" ... "You were well worth the nine" ... "I worried that your hips were
too slim to bear my children, and you confirmed my fears when our first baby"

This was the Google search that returned the results....

__________________

hunnychile

I used to worry about getting older and then I found out how really empowering all that experience really is. When we enjoy who we are, no matter what age we are - we are all Goddesses and able to share the big secret. Life is as good as we are willing to accept and enjoy.

All of us are lucky ladies because we have a voice and freedom!

__________________
"I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

Frenchie

Those are impressive in my book. Thanks for posting.

MikeyChalupa

Oops I almost forgot I am not a woman!