What Are You Waiting For?

It's interesting how we all know life isn't guaranteed, yet we make plans as though it is. We put things off because there will be another weekend, another holiday, another summer, another chance to get together. We tell ourselves we'll call next week, visit when work settles down, or spend more time with the people we love once life gets a little less busy.

Then someone gets sick. A family member receives a diagnosis. We lose someone unexpectedly, or hear news that reminds us just how quickly life can change. For a while, everything comes into focus. We promise ourselves we'll stop putting things off. We'll make time for family dinners, take the day off, go fishing with the grandkids, visit an old friend, or finally plan that outing we've talked about for years.

The strange thing is that, after a while, those promises begin to fade. Not because they weren't sincere, but because life has a way of reclaiming our attention. The appointments return, the house needs cleaning, the laundry piles up, work gets busy, and before long we're right back to saying, "Maybe next week."

There's actually a reason for that. Our brains are wired to settle back into routine after a stressful event. It's one of the ways we recover and regain a sense of normalcy. The downside is that we often slip back into postponing the very things that mattered so much when we were reminded that time isn't guaranteed.

I've been thinking lately that maybe we've made the idea of a bucket list bigger than it needs to be. It doesn't have to involve passports, cruises, or checking destinations off a map. Sometimes it's finally inviting friends over for supper instead of saying, "We should do that sometime." It's taking a day trip to the little town you've always meant to visit, sitting around a bonfire, watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee, taking your spouse out for breakfast on a Tuesday just because you can, learning a family recipe before it's forgotten, calling someone you've been meaning to reconnect with, or spending an afternoon with someone whose company you genuinely enjoy.

Those ordinary moments are often the ones that become our favorite memories. Years from now, very few of us will remember the extra load of laundry we folded, the meeting we attended, or the email we answered before dinner. We'll remember the conversations, the laughter, the stories, and the people who shared those moments with us.

So I'll leave you with one question to think about today:

What are you waiting for?

If there's a phone call you've been meaning to make, make it. If there's someone you've been meaning to visit, put it on the calendar. If you've been waiting for the "right time" to enjoy an ordinary Tuesday with someone you love, maybe this is it.

None of us knows how many tomorrows we'll be given. We do know we have today. Let's not waste it.