Carpe Diem
Posted By RichC on June 10, 2005
Reading a post this morning in a forum I visit regularly and daughter reading a tribute article about a figure skater got me thinking about ‘today.’ Am I making the most of each day?
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, Lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapt power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
No … probably like many, I squander my time with thinking of the past or the future far too much. Not that I disagree with planning for the future or learning from past mistakes, but spending our time reliving or saying “when I have time” is not necessarily ‘enjoying the moment.’
Today is my son Taylor‘s 16th birthday. We have a great relationship for father and adolescent son in comparison to many. We have our challenging moment and times that I wish would never end. Life moves on. This year I’m planning to make the most in spending time with him. I have scheduled a trip to Canmore, Alberta as a father-son bonding time in the outdoors. We’ve lined up a trout fishing day and several day hiking up the three sisters.
Thankfully we also share a few common interests. Our MGB car restoration project is moving along slowly but in keeping with his learning to drive this summer. Hopefully by the time it is on the road he’ll have enough experience in driving to keep the paint free from dents. Another weekend trip this summer will be to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and Airventure. This year should be a great time as there will be a bunch of WWII exhibits that will interest Taylor and Space Ship One that will make his sister jealous.
I suppose this isn’t exactly living ‘today’ to the fullest, even though tonight we’ll be celebrating his birthday with Grandma and Grandpa, but I know the memories he and I will share this summer will not be regretted. As I contemplate how to spend ‘today’ and the next few years I am reminded of Scott Laio (see Sports Illustrated) … and how short life on this earth can seem, but yet how beautifully it can be remembered if you live it fully everyday. Try to end each day without regrets for what you could have done …
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