‘The Life In My Years’ – now, there is a phrase that I neglected for much of my time on this earth! Like so many, I spent most of my years planning on how I’d live and enjoy in the future – ‘I want to travel the world SOMEDAY,’ ‘I want to be able to go to concerts and theatre more SOMEDAY,’ ‘I want to redecorate my bedroom SOMEDAY.’ My focus was on work, paying the bills, mundane tasks, and squeezing in something ‘special’ every once in a while. But, then, in 2000 I got my first ‘wake-up’ call. A family tragedy opened my eyes wide to the fragility of life when we lost a young boy who had not yet had a chance to start living. ‘Wake-up’ call #2 came in January, 2006 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s the one that did it. I knew that the word “SOMEDAY” had to be removed from my vocabulary, that I needed to LIVE and add LIFE TO MY YEARS, instead of just adding up years filled with hazy memories and unreached goals.
So now, here I am – living my theatre passion, travelling, creating memories with friends and family – adding ‘Life to My Years.’
But, why blog? Well …. in late 2015, our family was struck with another huge loss of another young man. It broke our collective hearts. I remember his parents saying to me that they are going to celebrate his life by living their own lives – by travelling more, and not putting things off. It made me realize how sad it is that so many of us trudge through time with “SOMEDAY” goals and dreams, and how wonderful it would be if we could all wake up to life without having to get that ‘wake-up’ call.
This blog is dedicated to all of us – those who are adding ‘life to our years’ already, and those who need to be motivated to do so.
My hope is that my readers will become active participants, not just in this blog, but in LIFE. Feel free to comment on my posts, or, if you want, become a guest contributor (private message me if you’re interested)! My goal is to have a different theme every day of the week – Sunday Showstoppers (theatre), Motivational Mondays, Tuesday Travels, Wednesday Wrecipes, Theme-less Thursdays, Foto Fridays, and Cinema Saturdays (subject to change, of course, both in content and schedule!).
I hope you enjoy my little online ‘magazine,’ and will invite your friends and family to join us!
– Ilene
