A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a package wrapped in silk. 

"This", he said, "isn't any ordinary package." He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

"She got this the first time we went to New York City, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on... she was saving it for a special occasion." "Well, I guess this is it." He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral home: his wife had just died.

He turned to me and said: "Never save something for a special occasion. Treat every day in your life as a special occasion".

Simply put, those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything. I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understand that life should be a source of experiences to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer save anything. I use crystal glasses every day. I wear new clothes when I go to the supermarket... if I feel like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to. The words "Someday".. and "One Day"... are fading away from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see it, listen to it, or do it now! I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning... nobody can tell, but I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.

She might have called old friends to make peace over past quarrels, and  I'd like to think she would have gone out for her favourite... Chinese Food.

It's small things like that which I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come. I would regret it, because I would no longer see long time friends, no longer complete letters that I wanted to write "One of These Days". I would feel regret and sadness, that I didn't tell my brothers, and sister, daughters and sons, often  enough, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives. Each morning, as I begin the day, I say to myself that this could be a special day, because in the big scheme of life, each day, each hour, each minute, is very special.