Babe, Is This Sock Clean?

We recently had a wonderful visit with my cousin Mariah, whom we hadn't seen in several years.  As a regional manager for multiple Starbucks stores, she has really gotten to know and appreciate coffee.  Curious, I asked her what type she preferred, how she liked to drink it, as well as what expresso machine she'd personally used or recommended?  I imagined the machine she uses must cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars and the best coffee would be something relatively expensive.  I was surprised to find out that, while she has sampled just about every imaginable type of coffee and expression thereof, she prefers both the taste and simplicity of running hot water over a simple filter or even more simply, a sock.  She and her husband Doug had experienced drinking coffee this way in South America.  Wow!  Isn't that cool?  Yet another great example of someone choosing and appreciating simplicity over chasing.  Who needs an expensive machine and high priced coffee?  Thank you Mariah.  Heh babe, is this sock clean?  Hmmm...this is a good cup of coffee.

Why Wait?

When Kim and I were married, Adam, my best man and friend from college, was overwhelmingly generous in his wedding gifts to us.  One gift was a very expensive 1993 bottle of red wine.  I had been holding on to this bottle for almost 18 years, clinging in fact, and waiting for that special time when we would all be together again to celebrate some yet-to-be-identified special moment.  Well, that moment came just last weekend when Adam and Michelle came to visit us.  We decided the time was right to share that wine over a wonderful meal Michelle prepared for us all.  What was so special?  The simple fact that we were together again after a few years.  We were all quite curious, wondering if the wine would have turned to vinegar by now, as in the earlier years, Kim and I hadn't really known to be careful in storing the bottle.  To my pleasant surprise, the wine tasted absolutely amazing, but to be honest, the moment would have been every bit as special, as well as amusing, even if it hadn't.

As I took that first taste, marveling at how good the wine really was, I was immediately brought full force into the present moment we all shared together.  I gazed at my wife and our close friends and joyful emotions overwhelmed me, tears coming to my eyes, so grateful for these precious moments we had together.  How incredible and yet fleeting.  Isn't life grand and yet all too short? 

All those years we had waited to share that wine, wondering when that special time would come.  In the end, isn't it true that every moment is special, if we simply choose to see it that way.  Why wait?  Whatever you are waiting for, why wait?  Choose to enjoy it now, whatever it may be.  What's the fun in having special things, if you never use them.  Stop clinging and chasing an unknown future.  None of us knows how much sand remains in our hourglass and if you are like me, very likely over 1/2 of it may already be gone.