Eat, Drink and Be Merry

...for tomorrow we die.
[Ecclesiastes 8:15 and Isaiah 22:13]

Lately I've been trying to pay attention to this thing called Life...and what it means to live, in spite of the economy or my wallet.  Years ago someone told me to live as though there were no tomorrow but to save as though I'd lived forever.  But often to my own shame, I have worked hard on the latter at the expense of the former.

How does this happen?  To have money in the bank but to think twice about spending it on a café coffee while walking out-n-about any weekend afternoon?  That's easy, you say:  it's because of the economy right now or because you came out of a conservative preacher's home.  But not all my brothers and sisters are that way.  Why am I?

Astrid and I live in a senior-living complex here in The Netherlands (minimum entry age is 55) where we are surrounded by residents who are in their sunset years, as we say.  It's not earth-shattering whenever we hear that Mevrouw So-and-So has just died.  It's the reality of this place.  And yet, at the same time, it's nothing for us all to get together once a month and live it up, eating, drinking and having fun.  I LOVE IT.  Watching 60-, 70- and 80-year-olds letting down their hair and laughing a lot.  I sit there trying to catch all the Dutch I can pick up...and laughing right back.

Eons ago when Bill and I were 'missionaries' to college students and had little money, he'd sometimes say, "Let's go out for an ice cream!" I'd immediately say, "Do you think we can afford it?" For God's sake, Ginnie, they only cost 5-cents a scoop back then.  Shouldn't I have asked, "How can we NOT afford it?!"  We always went, of course, because I talked sense into myself, but I'm so ashamed when I think of that memory.

The rare times we took the kids to a restaurant, maybe twice a year on their birthdays, they'd always choose the most expensive entre on the menu.  I got smart and quickly made the policy they could choose anything up to a certain amount (that I had fixed in my head).  WHY?  Since it was a rare thing, why couldn't I just say "To heck with it.  They can have anything they want!  It's their birthday, for God's sake!"  Why didn't I trust the way Life works.  Why didn't I accept the ebb and flow, the give and take, the saving and spending, the living and the dying?  Both and.  Why didn't I talk sense into myself!

While I still have a lot to learn on the subject (surely most of you are way ahead of me!),  in my own way I'm making headway.  The older I get, I don't weigh and measure and calculate every single thing anymore.  I'm more willing to take my chances and trust the outcome.  What is it we say...moderation in everything.  If we're not guilty of the alternative, why worry about tomorrow, which may never come anyway!  Besides, I don't have to leave ALL my money (what I have of it, that is) to the kids.  I can enjoy my own life for a change, right?

So, hang on a sec while I go get a bottle and a couple of glasses.  I can hear you saying "I'll drink to that!"  Please do and PROOST, as we say here in The Netherlands!

Eat, drink and be merry...for tomorrow we diet!
[2001 New Scientist 22/29 Dec. 45]