A recent roommate porch conversation turned from the small talk of work and petty worries into a carpe diem lesson. Jaime told me of the frustration he has at thinking of the many things he has wanted to do in the past but never got around to. Then we talked about the future...it seems to me that this inaction typically becomes habitual. Andrea, my ex-girlfriend, told me that my worst habit/characteristic is being too laid-back to the point where I do not get things done that need to be done because I do not worry about anything. And so, Jaime and I were describing our mutual disgust at our inaction, our mutual laziness, our mutual letting priceless opportunities fall to oblivion from which they mock us for letting them go. Then it hit me, mid-conversation, that we were doing the very thing we wanted to be rid of...we were sitting there talking about how horrible it is to sit around and talk about things we want or need to do. From the time I have moved into our apartment I have wanted to jump off our second floor balcony onto the grass below, which I told Jaime as I climbed to the other side of the banister. I was in the air as Jaime said "You wont do it." You could see it in his eyes when I came back up stairs with dirty feet and a smiling face that he understood...tonight...we begin tonight. "To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions." ~James Joyce
Jaime learned what 'carpe diem' means: seize the day. Jaime said he has always wanted to swim in our apartment-complex pond...we did. Stepping into the mud on one side we began, not a fast swim, but an enjoyable one, although honestly my mind was focused a good part of the time on the possible creatures we were swimming with. About forty feet from the other edge I was attacked by a centimeter-thick-anaconda which turned out to be the cord that attaches the fountain to shore. Anyway, we made it to the other side with one more task to do...which I recommended because of the thought of what might be growing on us. We went swimming in the pool so that Jaime could try a front flip which he had never done. I showed him how to do it and he eventually tried a few times which was the point...he tried. He didn't make it all the way around but he tried.
These small seemingly insignificant steps...may they lead to larger more loving ones. Hush
