Don't Waste Your Time

My normal Monday morning routine is to listen to the CBS morning news as I slowly gain consciousness and take stock of what is going on outside of my nest of blankets.

I know that the moment I extract myself, my day has started, so I lie there as long as possible just enjoying the feel of "right now" - possibly the only time in my life that I really do that.

This morning was different.

I listened to the story of a man, a Professor of Geriantology or however you spell it - a doctor for the elderly - face his own diagnosis of cancer. (It was the same type of cancer my paternal grandfather died from) The story wasn't about death and doom; rather, it was a story about how he sees life. He is not afraid to die, and he's living his life with joy, teaching others about how it feels to be diagnosed with a terminal illness.

From my blanket Utopia, I remembered a counseling session I had once, wherein my late Aunt Marie sent a message to me - or as the attempt to contact her for advice resulted in the message "Don't Waste Your Time"

Those words are always in my head, whether I am wasting my time or not, and I often wonder if it was about trying to reach her, counseling with the woman I was seeking therapy from at the time, trying to repair my relationship with Sage's father, or just a general statement about my life. So it's a mantra of sorts, a reminder, a little nudge. And here it was screaming at me from my television this morning. What was I doing just laying around when this man so joyfully wakes up every morning and embraces life? What the -

So I rolled (literally) out of bed, jumped in the shower, got ready for my day and here I go - to face life, instead of hiding in my nest of blankets - to get things done...to spend my time, rather than wasting it.

That doesn't mean that tomorrow I won't do the same thing I always do, but for today that man is on my mind and his joy for his life and his readiness to face death - well, he's my inspiration today.