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Living For Today Is Not New But Sometimes We Forget By STEWART ELLIOTT Scripps Howard News Service November 07, 2003 - Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift - that is why we call it "the present." The Irish, naturally, have used this bit of wisdom in a song: "That is why I know that only this moment is mine." The idea of living in the present, for today, is as old as time, but most of us have failed to learn it, or at least have failed to follow the advice. I believe in the principle with all my heart, but what a contradiction I am! I have worked in several fields but always find myself in a planning role. I am a professional planner. In all fairness I am improving with age. I start every morning with a prayer that I may have a cheerful, positive attitude, just for today. We were a close-knit, supportive family, but we were never demonstrative. My wife's family is openly affectionate. I have had to learn from them. I have finally learned that it is easy to say, "I love you." Nearly everything that is worth doing is best done today. How long since you have told your spouse, your parents, your children, your siblings or grandchildren that you love them? How long have you been planning to renew acquaintances with an old friends, or to visit someone in a nursing home? Take charge! Don't allow your busy life to rob you of life's pleasures. Another Irishman, Edward Fitzgerald, wrote, "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on, nor all your piety nor wit may lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it." I had a wonderful brother, several years my senior. He was intelligent and an avid reader. The library was his second home. He taught me so much about many things, and he knew I loved him, but, alas, I can't remember ever telling him so. The moving finger of time has written and I cannot cancel even that half a line that I would like to rewrite. He has been gone for years, but I find myself wishing I could call him. I am very pleased and surprised that so many are reading my column, and amazed how fast the number is increasing. I am disappointed in one area only - I'm not reaching enough of the nursing home residents that I write to or about. I find many of the staff members in nearly every home read it but are not passing it on, or reading it to the residents. I would appreciate any help I can get from the caregivers. Learning to live for today is at least as important for my contemporaries as it is for the younger people. We just have to live it at a different level. I continue to learn from my wife, despite the increasing grip that Parkinson's disease has on her life. A couple of days ago she rang for her nurse. She had called earlier, and I am sure the nurse thought, "Now what?' When she arrived, her patient held up her arms and said, "You are so nice. I love you and just wanted to give you a hug." She didn't want to hug her later - she wanted to deliver that hug now. That is living in the present. (Stewart Elliott is a nursing home resident who writes the column "Notes From a Nursing Home" for the Evansville Courier and Press in Evansville, Ind. Contact him at thepilgrimSE (at) hotmail.com.) (Contact Stewart Elliott of The Evansville Courier in Indiana at http://www.evansville.net.) SOURCE: Scripps Howard News Service http://tinyurl.com/u6i9 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn