At a recent visit to a nursing home, I met a woman who is 79 years old.  Her hair was very white and long.  Her face wrinkled, her smile too tight.  Her unhappiness too vivid.  Her fingers were gnarled and as she grasped my hands, she experienced obvious pain.  She held out a paper and asked me to read it.  She said: "Please read this and picture what I am describing and please learn from it." I held her hands and began to read her poem.

       "I lie here in this wrinkled and lonely bed.

       My makeup forgotten, my hair unkempt upon my head.

       My jewelry at my daughter's, never to wear again

       My clothing of satin and velvet gone who knows when

       This is all true, I know it too well

       But I ask that you think of me when I looked so swell

       my hair as bright and shiny as gold

       flowing in the wind, my smile so bold

       my body so long, so thin, so strong

       my heart was singing, my life so long

       I knew that I would love my life forever and ever

       I knew that I would be young and hearty, nothing could ever my energy sever

       think of me as that beauty, that young and happy girl

       and please remember that you must live your life in a whirl

       Eat and dance and love and run

       Swim and play and feel that warm, delicious sun

       Don't let single day, a single minute pass you by

       Or else some day you'll be like me, and wonder why?”

I took her in my arms and held her as I stroked her hair and thanked her for the beautiful poem.  I cried as I held her because her words are so poignant and so true.  They are the words I have been speaking, the encouragement and the message I have been sharing.

Each moment is a pearl in your life.  A shiny valuable to be cherished, nourished, and appreciated.  Add these pearls, these moments of laughter, these moments of joy, these moments of excitement and adventure.  Add them until your pearls are  abundant,  full and shiny, and precious. 

And when you are lying in your bed, when you do look back on your life and on your own experiences; you will have a full and bountiful necklace of  pearls without regrets or spaces of inaction, depression, or unfulfilled wishes. 

It is never too late.  Now is the moment.  Seize the day, Carpe el Diem, so that your poem will be of the glory of every day of your life, not merely of the memories of so many years ago.     

Remember - LOVE IS THE ENERGY OF LIFE

Please email me with any questions or observations.

Carole Altman, Ph.D. drlove@anv.net      www.drcarolealtman.com