Taste the joy

In http://braininjuryandbipolarrecovery.blogspot.com/, Tom Hartmann writes regarding a summer romance during his college years, "we had put off consummating our romance until my final evening in the country."  My feeling upon reading that was "why wait -- taste joy whenever you have the opportunity!"

The song "No Time at All" comes to mind.  It says, "When you are old as I...you will woefully wonder why...you could squander away or sequester a drop of a precious year....it's time to start livin'....'cause spring will turn to fall in just no time at all."

Of course it's not always so simple.  Sometimes finding the things that will bring us the most joy takes long-term planning and work, not just immediate indulgence.  Sometimes we are crushed by fatigue, illness, hurt, and loss.

Actually, right now I think that everything I want will take long-term planning and work.  And right now, I feel like I am usually crushed by fatigue, illness, hurt, and loss.  I guess that's why I had the response to Tom's blog post  -- because at the time, he didn't have those things standing in his way.  And little did he know, soon he would be struck by them.

But wherever we are in life, there will be both.  Wherever we are in life, we need to work on the long-term planning.  Wherever we are in life, we need to care for the physical and emotional hurts that plague us. But wherever we are in life, let us not forget to taste the joy.