When It becomes too Late …

I do not really like this story but I am sharing with you because it can serve as a lesson for all of us. The moral of the story is similar to the other story, “A Special Date” which I shared with you the other day – that certain things cannot be put off till tomorrow. If you love someone, let them know today that you love them because there might not be a tomorrow: be it your parents, your brothers or sisters, friends … anyone.

I had learnt that. I used to be someone who is very shy in relationship. I never told the girls I like before that I like them. I was too shy and worried too much then … but now, if I like a person, I would just say it. But when you say it, make sure you mean it too. If she likes me too, that would be a bonus, but if she does not, I have nothing to lose. We can still be friends 🙂

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.” — Mark Twain

It all started when I was 6 years old. While I was playing outside on my farm in California, I met a boy. He was an average kind of boy who teased you and then you chased them and beat them up.

After that first meeting in which I beat him up we kept on meeting and beating each other up at the fence.

That only lasted for a little while though. We would meet at the fence all the time and we were always together. I would tell him all my secrets. He was quite very quiet he would just listen to what I had to say. I found him easy to talk to and I could talk to him about everything.

In school we had separate friends but when we got home we would always talk about what happened in school. One day I said to him that a guy I liked hurt me and broke my heart. He just comforted me and said everything would be okay. He gave me words of encouragement and helped me get over him.

I was happy and thought of him as a real friend. But I knew that there was something else about him that I liked. I thought of it that night and figured it was just a friend kinda thing that I was feeling.

All through high school and even through graduation we’re always together and of course I thought of it was being friends. But I knew deep inside that I really felt differently.

On graduation night even though we had different dates to the prom I wanted to be with him. That night after everybody went home I went to his house and wanted to tell him that I wanted to see him.

Well, that night was my big chance and all I did was just sit there with him watching the stars and talking about what I was going to do and what he was going to do. I looked into his eyes and listened to him talk about what his dream was. How he wanted to get married and settle down. He said how he wanted to be rich and successful. All I could do was to tell him my dream and cuddle next to him.

I went home hurting because I didn’t tell him how I was feeling. I wanted to tell him so bad that I loved him but I was too scared and frightened. I let my feelings go and told myself that someday I would tell him just how I felt.

All through college I wanted to tell him but he always had someone with him. After graduation he got a job in New York, I was happy for him but at the same time I was sad to see him go. I was sad also because I didn’t that he was leaving for his big job. So I just kept
it to myself and watched him go on the plane.

I cried as I hugged him for what I felt was going to be the last time. I went home that night and cried my eyes out. I felt hurt that I didn’t tell him what I had inside my heart.

Well, I got a job as a secretary and then worked my way to a computer analyst. I was proud of what I had accomplished. One day I got a letter with an invitation to a marriage. It was from him, I was happy and sad at the same time.

Now I know that I could never be with him and that we could only be friends. I went to the wedding the next month. It was a big occasion.

The big church wedding and the reception at the hotel. I met the bride and of course him. I fell in love one more time. But I held back so it wouldn’t spoil what should be the happiest day in his life. I tried to have fun that night but it was killing me inside watching him being so happy and me trying to be happy covering up my sadness tears inside of me.

I left New York feeling that I did the right thing. Before I left on the flight, he came running out of nowhere and said his good-byes and how he was very happy to see me. I came home and just tried to forget about what went on in New York. I had to go on with my life.

As the years went on, we wrote to each other on what was going on and how he had missed talking to me. On one occasion he never wrote back to me at all. I was getting worried as to why he hadn’t written anything for a long time after I had already written 6 letters to him. Well, just when everything seemed hopeless and sad in my life, I got a note that said: “meet me at the fence where we used to talk about things”.

I went and saw him there. I was happy to see him, but he was broken hearted and sad inside. We hugged until we couldn’t breathe anymore.

Then he told me about the divorce and why he hadn’t written for a long time. He cried until he couldn’t cry anymore. Finally, we went back to the house and talked and laughed about what I had been going and to catch up on old times. But in all of this, I couldn’t tell him how I felt about him.

In the days that followed, he had fun and forgot about all his problems and his divorce. I fell in love again with him. When it came time for him to leave back to New York, I went to see him off and cried. I hated to see him leave. He promised to see me every time he could get a vacation. I couldn’t wait for him to come so I could be with him. We would always have fun when we were together.

One day he didn’t show up like he said he would. I figured that he might have been busy. The days turned into months and I just forgot about it. Then I got a call one day from a Lawyer in New York. The Lawyer said that he had died in a car accident going to the airport. And that it took this long till everything was settled. It broke my heart. I was shocked about what took place.

Now I knew why he didn’t come that day. Again, I was broken hearted. I cried that night, cried tears of sadness and heartache. Asking questions why did this happen to a kind guy like him?

I gathered my things and went to New York for the reading of his will. Of course, things were given to his family and his ex-wife. I finally got to meet her since the last time we met at the wedding. She explained to me how he was and how he always provided. But he was always unhappy. She would always try everything but she couldn’t get him happy, as he was that night at their wedding. When the will was read, the one thing that was given to me was a diary.

It was a dairy that of his life. I cried as it was given to me. I didn’t know what to think. Why was his given to me? I took it and flew back to California.

As I flew on the plane I remembered the good times that we had together. I started reading the diary and what was written. The diary was started with the day we first met. I read on till I started to cry. The diary told of him saying that he had fallen in love with me that day I was broken hearted. But he was too afraid to tell me what he had felt.

That is why he was so quiet and liked to listen to me. It told of how he wanted to tell me so many times, but was too afraid to say anything. It told of when he went to New York and fell in love with another. How the happiest time he had was seeing me and dancing with me at the wedding. He said he imagined it was our wedding. How he was always unhappy till he had no choice but to divorce his wife. How the best time in his life was to read the letters written to him by me.

Finally, the diary ended when it said, “today I will tell her I love her”. It was the day he was killed. The day I was going to finally find out what was really in his heart.

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If you love someone, don’t wait till tomorrow to tell him/her. Maybe that next day will never come at all.

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Love is a Mystery

Love … it’s a kind of feeling that most of us can’t really control. Sometimes it just happen when you least expected it to happen.

What Is Love?

It is a mystery why we fall in love.
It is a mystery how it happens.
It is a mystery when it comes.

It is a mystery why some love grows
and it is a mystery why some love fails.
You can analyze this mystery and
look for reasons and causes,
but you will never do anymore
than take the life out of the experience.

Sometimes, hopefully at least once in your life –
the gift of love will come to you in full flower,
and you will take hold of it
and celebrate it in all inexpressible beauty.

This is the dream we all share.
More often, it will come and take hold of you,
celebrate you for a brief moment, then move on.

When people fall out of love,
they want answers where there are no answers.
They want to know what is wrong
in them that makes the other person no
longer love them, or they try to get their lover to change,
thinking that if some small things were different,
love would bloom again.

They blame their circumstances
and say that if they go far away and start
a new life together,their love will grow.
They try anything to give meaning to what has happened.

If you find yourself in love with someone
who does not love you, be gentle with yourself.
There is nothing wrong with you.
Love just didn’t choose to rest in
the other person’s heart.

If you find someone else in love
with you and you don’t love him,
feel honored that love came and called at your door,
but gently refuse the gift you cannot return.
Do not take advantage; do not cause pain.

How you deal with love is how you deal with you,
and all our hearts feel the same pains and joys,
even if our lives and ways are different.

If you fall in love with another,
and he falls in love with you,
and then love chooses to leave,
do not try to reclaim it or to assess blame.
Let it go …..

There is a reason and there is a meaning.
You will know in time.

Remember that you don’t choose love.
Love chooses you.

The secret of love is that it is a gift,
and that it can be made to grow only by giving it away.

Love always has been and always will be a mystery.

Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life.

If you keep your heart open, it will come again!

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Pebbles and Sand

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2″ diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed.

He asked his students again if the jar was full. They agreed that yes, it was.

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.

The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important.

Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life.

Play with your children.

Take your partner out dancing.

There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter.

Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand.”

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A Tribute to Those Who Lost Their Lives 911

Success Is The Quality Of Your Days by Dr. Philip E. Humbert

If the events of this week have taught us anything, they have reminded us to live each day to the fullest. We were never promised our full “four score and ten.”

Even before the attack this week, I was reminded that our lives are too often cut short. My wife is a nurse, and she told me about a young man, age 44, who recently went to his doctor with a summer cold. He had a cough and couldn’t get rid of it, so the doctor gave him some pills and told him to come back if it didn’t get better.

It didn’t get better, so the man went back. They ran some tests, and discovered that the man has been walking around with lung cancer for months, perhaps years. He is married, with three small children, and now knows that he has only two or perhaps three, weeks to live.

There is a wonderful quote that urges us to make plans as if we’ll live forever, but to live as if we’ll die tomorrow. The truth is that today – this one day – is the only one we really have. Let us use it well!

The rubble of lower Manhattan sends a wake-up call to live with enthusiasm and to do the things you must do in this life! It sends a challenge to love with gusto and to tell the people you love how much you treasure them! Out of the dust comes challenge to say the words, take the risks, make the investments, and experience the richness of life!

It reminds us that life is short, and we often get on advance notice when our ticket expires,

True success is combination of “having” and “being.” Success includes earning money and buying nice things, having a home we are proud of, and leaving something to our children and those who follow.

But success is also about “being.” It’s about being a person others can love and respect. It’s about living and loving every moment of our lives, and being honest with ourselves, and with others. It’s about being silly, being in love, being proud, and about grieving when it is our turn to grieve.

There is a huge lie in modern culture that claims, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It is NOT true, my friends!

The truth is that “Those who die with some nice toys, lots of friends, fond memories, a few embarrassments, and a smile on their face, are the true winners in life.”

There will be many ways to honor those who were killed and injured this week. It is vital that we support them and their families in very tangible ways, and it will be important that we come together for memorials and times of remembrance.

But I propose that an even greater way to honor their memory is to commit ourselves to living up to our fullest potential. In this moment of sorrow and tragedy, challenge yourself to care, to live, and to love with renewed and outrageous enthusiasm. Pursue your dreams as if you could not possible fail! We can not turn back the clock, but we can live our lives with passion, with honor, with integrity and vigor!

Let us truly live every moment of our lives to the fullest!

American Dental Plan

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“Make love Happen”

$20

Sometimes we just need to be reminded!

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”

Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, “What if I do this?”

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

“Now, who still wants it?”

Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.

No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you.

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

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Love is Beautiful

Love is a foolish game?

Just like what Oscar Wilde said, “Life is one fool thing after another where as love is two fool things after each other.

To me, love has always been beautiful and will always be beautiful. I have people telling me that they do not want to get into love again because it hurts too much and they don’t think they ever want to be in love or can be in love again. It is quite sad and disheartening to hear that.

I always believe that everything happened for a reason. The hurt that we been through in life is to prepare us for the joy and happiness that follow. If there is no hurt, would we ever know the feeling of joy and happiness? Would we ever learn to treasure and to love? It is from the hurt, we were going through, that we learn to love even better.

I was reading a book earlier about lessons in business. In that book it mentions that not many people like to talk about failure in business: as often failures are looked upon as a shame and incompetence on the individual. However, this book talks about facing fear, learns from it and moves on.

Same applies for love too. We too must look hurt in the eyes, learn from it and move on.

Love is too beautiful to be given a miss … Keep the hope alive!

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A Special Date

a special date with mother

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said I love you but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

“What’s wrong, are you well,” she asked? My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

“I thought that it would be pleasant evening with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.”

She thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I would like that very much.”

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house,I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary.

She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s.

“I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed, “she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting”. We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu.Large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

“It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said.

“Then it’s time that you relax and let me return the favor,” I responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation – nothing extraordinary, but catching up on recent events of each other’s life.

We talked so much that we missed the movie.

As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.

“How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home.

“Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,” I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t do anything for her.

Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined.

An attached note said: “I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son.”

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: “I LOVE YOU!” and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than God and your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till “some other time.”

Pass this along to everyone with an aging parent, to a child, to an adult, to anyone with a parent. Here’s hoping today is better than yesterday and tomorrow.

Photo Credit: Robin Hutton
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