Life: A Series of Events

For those of you who have read my blogs with any degree of frequency, by now you know my day job is in the financial industry while at all other times, I aspire to write. I often talk about how people must enjoy the present or motivate themselves to give their all, but I’ve only had those thoughts overwhelmingly confirmed of late. Unfortunately, a dear friend of our family is in her last days. In her mid-sixties, she contracted a disease similar to that of mad cow. The doctors have not been sure of what to title her disease nor have they been sure of how to treat it, but they are sure she hasn’t much time left.

The reason I bring this all up is that this friend has been one of the strongest women I’ve known throughout my life. She worked her way up from poverty and now she is fairly well off. She has a generous heart and an incredibly strong will. It still amazes me how so quickly life can be snuffed out and at any moment. I never thought to see her so sick and near death at what I’d consider such a young age.

Even more so, I must say that in my line of job, this scenario is not so unique. Every day, I see and speak with people who have spent their whole lives working toward goals, sacrificing to save so they can enjoy their retirement. I’ve seen the opposite too; those who haven’t saved and are now spending their “retirement” fighting paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet.

Truly, it is important to be somewhere in the middle. Enjoy our lives and all the series of events that happen start to finish. I met an Australian on my first trip to Spain. I was fifteen and fell in love with the country of Spain on a high school exchange. In the subway station I got to talking with this Australian and he told me that what made Spain so fascinating (as well as many other countries) is that there they work to live and in the United States, we live to work. I thought his words interesting then but many years later, I understand them much more and have to agree with them. Neither way is necessarily bad, just different culturally.

I definitely am not saying it is not important to work. We must all have something to work for, to stretch and grow us. I consider myself having two jobs between my day job and the writing but I enjoy them both so I wouldn’t have it any other way. Still, I also make a conscious effort to pause and enjoy life’s little events so that no matter what the future holds, I can say I enjoyed a full life. And as for my family friend, I’d like to say thank you for always being so generous and working hard for others too. We appreciate you.

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life