First Things
Bill Holm’s friend used to say
Eat dessert first; life is short and uncertain.
I say Amen to that, brother. But
saying and doing are two different postures.
We were raised to get the work done first
and then and only then go out to play.
Its hard to tell, now so many years later,
if that made us into better adults or not.
I could poll some of my old peers but their
abbreviated lives are sleeping beneath black granite
etched with a name, two dates, and maudlin
epitaphs like So We Beat On, Boats Against the Current.
Something tells me if those dead could come back
to warn they’d cry Eat your pie first, sport!
Once more a reminder that life is a balancing act … but I love the literary references that come with this one. From a gal in the middle-west, not setting out to seek my fortune in the bond market.
One last word on my way out the door. Eat your cake as soon as it hits your plate.
Just the other day, I encouraged my mom, 92, with a body that is outliving her mind, to have another bite of chocolate frosting. Sometimes, I think we’ve gotten so over-the-top concerned with preservation of life at the expense of quality of the same. So, yes, thank you. I think I will have that bite. (apply at will to analogical situations. . . )
Yes indeed…