Before We Were Strangers

by Renee Carlino

The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn’t belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.

“ ‘I used to think I was poor because I didn’t have any shoes, and then I met a man with no feet.’ ”