“I Just Go For It.”
“I’m not a planner, I just go for it.”
That’s what the guy at the grocery store was saying to his buddy as they shopped and talked and walked down the aisle. I passed them and smiled and wanted to say “I’m with you all the way buddy.”
But I didn’t.
There was a time when I would have thought that outlook on life was frivolous and OK for the younger thinkers among us.
Wasn’t there a time when we all thought we would live forever and planning ahead was for the old folks who lived across the street? I hate to admit it, but I think I was still leaning in that direction ten years ago when life was chugging along and cancer was in some one else’s life, not mine.
But cancer has a way of giving a carefree life style whiplash. If cancer does anything to a life, and it does a lot, one thing it really does, is teach you how to look ahead and plan ahead. It’s a crash course in growing-up.
So I guess, I’m the old ‘folk’ across the street now. Years and cancer have contributed to that incarnation.
But I must admit, I wish it was me who had said that!
March 23, 2012 @ 8:01 pm
In some ways Jim and I led a spontaneous kind of life. Our best vacation was the one where we got to the end of the driveway and decided where we would go. Some of the trip was planned but the approach was not and it was wonderful. We loved to get in the car and go for drives and find a special restaurant…usually mexican or barbecue..not the stuffy kind! That is one of the things I miss so much and during his fight there was so much planning of every move that we lost a lot of those good times. I have become a bit of the “go for it” kind of person…within reason of course.
March 23, 2012 @ 7:06 pm
A carefree life, being spontaneous, going off on a whim…..once upon a time so many years ago when I was young and very naive. But it was a good time in my life and so glad I experienced it. Today, nothing is spontaneous unless it is a nap….sad, really sad to say that but true. Cancer has altered my landscape in so many ways but not always in a bad way for me. God’s wake up call.. a four alarm one to just get my attention. I am so grateful to have made it this far and I give thanks to Him each day. I don’t deserve His mercy but perhaps His justice would be better but His grace has allowed even me to become a member of His flock. I give thanks. If you ever contemplate your mortality and I have numerous times, I know that it is never too late to receive the promise of eternal life. Yep, I’m the old guy across the street whose hourglass is closer to empty than being full. In hindsight, life has been good to me. Cancer is a part of it, a big part but it too has shaped me and my faith. As I’ve said before, I have never asked “Why me”? But have also added “Why not me”? It doesn’t seem unfair to me. It just seems to be a part of my life and that I can accept.