Life

I am still so elated over the news that my cancer remains in remission. Every doctor I see says that it is miraculous that I am still free of the disease. I continue to find difficult to comprehend that I have, so far, avoided a certain and untimely death. I can look at statistics and hear the voices of the doctors who deal with this everyday and still it just fails to sink in. I can best explain it as one who staggers away from a car accident, with injuries but little actual pain, in some kind of denial or shock. Then turns back to see the car totally destroyed.

What I do know is that every single moment, even those rife with kidney stone pain, must be savored. I once thought, many years ago, that there was no purpose or meaning to life (my existential period) and the only reasonable response was to feel as good as possible at all times. Then, I thought meaning could be derived from selfless service to others (my counseling period). Next I tried just earning a living and taking life as it comes (my computer period). I find myself now coming around to seeing life as something to enjoy, all the moments; happy, sad, pain, pleasure, it's all the same thing. Just the simple experience of life, each moment, every sensation, every thought. The simple pleasures of petting a dog, the feel of guitar strings under my fingers, the moment of opening the shutter of a camera, listening to music, is the point of life.

Be Here Now. Experience this moment. Not that there may be no other, there is no other.

Don't worry, be happy.