Take Hold of Every Moment

A friend of mine opened his father's cupboard drawer and picked up a gift wrapped package:

"This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package."

He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

"He got this the first time he went to New Delhi, 28 or 29 years ago. He has never gave it to me. Was saving it for a special occasion, well, I guess this is it. I got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing’s and he was taking to the funeral house, he had just died. My friend turned to me and said:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion".


I still think those words changed my life.



Now I read more and clean less the fuss


I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.






I spend more time with my family, and less at work.


I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses every day. I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if i feel like it.




I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to. The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now. I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.
She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I'd like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food. It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.


I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would meet, letters... letters that I wanted to write

"One of this days".


I would regret and feel sad, because I didn't say to my brothers and sons, not times enough at least, how much

I love them.
Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives.

And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day.

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.
Each day, each hour, each minute, is special