"Fate Provides, Then Passes the Baton" ... (written August 27th, 2002)

I hardly regret anything I have done. I do childish things, sure, and if I hadn't, things would surely be different, but not necessarily better. Good comes of all things, no matter how obscure one's vision is of it. The only things I regret, and there are so many, are those I do NOT do. Life is in the moments, and how often I forget this. Those little insignificant opportunities for adventure, for romance, for conversation, for risk, those are what make up a lifetime, not the future, not the childish insecruities. See an opportunity, take it. Don't take it for granted to be there tomorrow, another time, another moment. THIS moment matters. The next moment has no existence.

Today, as I pushed myself to run yet another 2 miles, I caught just a glimpse of an old but certainly not forgotten friend of mine, Sara P. The sweetest most poetically serene female I have ever known. I could have easily trotted over to say, 'Hi, nice to see you. Lets have breakfast. I want to talk to you, and just be with you, in your presence. I want to smell your grace and taste your beauty. You make me calm, sending a soothing air around and through my spirit.' Instead I acted as if I hadn't seen her, not to be conceited, but waiting and hoping for her to say something first. It never happened.

As I rinse the long day off my tired but renewed body, I can only regret that I did nothing to take hold of an opportunity that lay itself before me. For who is to say I would not have gotten a great response from Lady Fate? Ladies give. It is their nature. As a mother first gives to her child her body, then her life, then her soul, fate must be a lady, every day, giving to so many individuals boundless chances to make better, happier, fuller days, more memorable than one could hope for. But we must take these gifts. I must take them, grab them by the hand, not allowing them to slip. Hold them gently, for they are the fragile gifts of a lovely lady. Take hold of them as putty, tight enough, no, secure enough so they don't fall, and gently enough so they wont seep away through your fingers. Fragile gifts, precious moments.