Life is lived in the moments

Time is precious, fleeting,

and to give your time to someone else

is the most precious gift you could ever give them.

Memories of shared sunsets, sleeping in late on Sunday mornings, circling the block just once more because your favorite song came on the radio and you just couldn't bear the thought of turning the car off before it was over.

               Life passes you by a moment at a time, each moment more precious than the last in the way that it's there and gone, and will never be again.

               I have always counted myself as a collector of moments, and I live my life by the moments. The first time I put pen to paper, the first time I met my husband, each and every sunset I've seen from the back porch of my house.

               Life happens in those moments, and if you're not careful, it's so regrettably easy to slip on the blinders and switch over to auto-pilot-- to live your life by the bills you have to pay and the job you have to get to, and the people you're held accountable to, and before you know it you find yourself caught up in the maelstrom, and when the winds die down and the smoke clears, you find your life has gone on without you, and you were far too busy surviving to live it.

               I'm guilty of it. I admit it without pride. It would be pointless to say any differently. And there's nothing I can do to change that fact-- no way to get back the time I lost. I'm grateful for the fact that my eyes are now open to that fact, and I'm making a conscious effort to remind myself to be a collector of moments, the way I used to be.

               When was the last time you stopped what you were doing just to watch the sunset? When was the last time you took your shoes off and curled your toes into the sand? When was the last time you let yourself enjoy the smell of roses, of jasmine, the smell of the sea? When was the last time you dropped your guard and didn't give a damn what anyone else thought long enough to let your hair down and fully fall into a moment?

               When was the last time you felt alive in every last living, breathing, beautiful, vibrant bit of you?

               I'm a collector of moments-- the good, the bad, the in between. These are the moments that make your life-- the moments that make us who we are.

               What moments do you treasure? What moments made you weak? Made you strong?

               Cherish these moments, the good the bad, you're trading the seconds of your life for it. And the moment you forget that fact, your life will run off without you, and you'll find yourself merely being taken along for the ride.

               And there's no sadder fate than the unlived life.