Blogging friend Janet has something featured in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Art Library. I’d known about this for awhile, but hadn’t gotten to seeing it. I made plans with my friend M to see it on March 6.

The morning of March 6, M texts me that she has a massive headache. Did she mind if we postponed?

Sure. I said. There’s no rush. We can see it next week.

And the world said HA HA- because really, there was no next week for New Yorkers…

They opened a cute tea parlor in my neighborhood. It was on my “Someday” list. Now the tea shop is permanently closed.

A craft studio opened down the block from me. I kept missing the sign up for hand knitting (you weave big blankets with your hands or something- I don’t know what it is, but the blankets looked awesome and that’s why I wanted to take a lesson.) That shop is now permanently closed.

There were one or two opportunities that I missed because I didn’t thing the timing was right…and now these things will probably never happen.  Sometimes, things are once in a lifetime- and you will look back with regret and say –

What was I thinking? Why didn’t I do that when I had the chance. Boy- that was a mistake…

Because opportunities are more fleeting than we realize. Time is more fleeting than we realize…

What are the things on your “SOMEDAY” list?

What are the things in life that will make you happy, or excited but maybe you’ve been hesitant about doing?

What are the things that you will be sorry that you never did? What are the things that you will regret?

I’ve been seizing my mini moments as they happen: as things open up I’ve been doing them. Last week I had a dreamy look on my face and my husband asked:

“What are you thinking about?”

My daughter actually responded- “I bet she’s thinking about what museum she’s going to visit first now that they’ve said that they can reopen.”

And she was right. (I haven’t decided yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the Met. They have the most permanent collections)

And I’m totally signing up for in person Asian cooking classes when they eventually open.

I’m going to figure out how to fix something I screwed up.

I’m going to take a few acceptable risks…

Things will not be filed under “SOMEDAY”. They will be placed in dates and I will do them…

I get that there are people who are scared right now- people who don’t want to take a risk at all…

but…

Isn’t life always a risk?

Driving, getting on the subway, taking a bath….aren’t these all risks?

You need to take precautions. You don’t drive while impaired. You stand well behind the yellow line at the subway, you put adhesive duckies on the bottom of your tub.

You wear a mask.

Youi observe social distancing protocol.

Wash your hands.

You use good judgement.

I get that things are scary right now, but when haven’t things been scary?

Eleanor Roosevelt is sort of a Goddess in our household, so I will leave you with a quote of hers:

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face

Carpe Diem baby…

 

 

 

64 thoughts on “It’s Only a Day Away”

  2. Your well expressed post is a clear statement of thoughts on many minds. But how long will we remember the lesson?
    I still hope to someday go to see the Cook Islands but there are many other experiences I will savour closer to home until then.
    Maybe it is like Exercise- I know what I would like to be able to do but until then I will do less but I am content. There is a post for you, finding contentment.

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  3. We are all going to have to take responsibility for our health and assess our acceptable level of risk. As you said, we do risky things all the time, like driving cars. Today I will meet a friend at an old favorite restaurant with a patio that is closing for good the end of this month. Soon, we will take to the road in an RV van – something I’ve wanted to try for a long time. I hope we’ll enjoy it so much that we will see more of North America in the coming years.

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  4. It’s definitely good to stop filing things under ‘someday’. Once upon a time I decided to stop waiting for other people to travel with me, and just traveled by myself. It was less frightening than people think it might have been. Five overseas trips later, I’m ready to go somewhere else. Whenever we can actually travel again…

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    1. That’s one of the things I admire most about you…I think it’s amazing that you travel abroad by yourself. If quarantine lasts much longer I will also be traveling alone….

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      6. Which is what people don’t get when I say I’m having difficulty with pandemic. I’m rarely alone. It’s not easy to adapt your basic personality style. I’m getting by, but it’s not easy

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    2. Do you travel alone or with a travel group? I’ve gone with a group but by myself. I have no sense of direction and the idea of traveling alone is frightening only for that reason. I suppose with gps and other technologies, I could do some of it myself but most of my trips have been with small groups and I’ve made friends that way who I’ve then traveled with again.

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      1. I travel alone. I can’t imagine traveling with a group. That would be immensely frustrating for me. for whatever reason, I have a fine sense of direction in the US, but when I go to the British Isles. I get all turned around. It was espcially a problem in London proper….

        Funny story about GPS– when I was in Iceland last September, I entered the address for the hostel I was staying at near Vik. I drove the first couple of hours just fine, as I’d already been in that part of the country. But once I got to Vik (and in the middle of a rainstorm, no less), the rental car’s GPS led me straight to the town’s fire station. I had to get my phone out and bring up the address on Google Maps. The hostel was on the opposite side of the mountain entirely…. But just a mile from the beach, so it all ended well.

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      2. I also don’t like driving anywhere I’m unfamiliar. I love being a passenger and being the navigator but I rarely rent a car and only do it in areas I’ve been before. I like vacations where someone else handles the details. When I went to Amsterdam, I took a train from the airport to a streetcar and found my hotel. I randomly connected with another travel and we found our way to my hotel and then to hers. We were both so pleased with not getting lost, it makes me smile to think of it. The group travel works for me because you can do all of the group activities or pick and choose which ones you want.

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      3. I tend to go to photograph places, so being part of a group and feeling like I have to stop taking pictures to keep up would be a drag. Seriously. I’ll go to massively impressive waterfalls, and then spend twenty minutes photographing leaves..

        I’m usually not terribly worried about getting lost, as I learned early on to read paper maps (in case GPS is a fail), and I’m perfectly willing to ask people for directions. Happily, the people I’ve asked have been perfectly willing to help me out.

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  6. We can’t let the virus thing hold us back. Even though we are afraid we have to move forward. I agree with you. Wash our hands. Keep our distance. Take calculated risks. We just have to be more careful. Trust our gut. If I want to go to my arts center I have to call and make an appointment for a time slot. I will be doing that tomorrow. You’re right. The only way things are going to get back to a normal is we have to get out there and make it happen.

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  9. Yay! Great thoughts. It reminds me of when I first got married and had my own place. We were given two sets of cutlery for wedding presents – one for everyday use and one for special occasions. I remember after a few years chatting with a friend about how time is so fleeting and tomorrow can’t be guaranteed. Every day is a special day. After that I took out the good cutlery and started using it all the time. ‘Because we’re worth it’ 😉

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  10. Calculating your risk can be exacerbated by having to figure out what others are doing or not doing. I refuse to live my life with regrets. Yes, I have missed out on doing some things, but I am trying to look forward to others instead of dwelling on what was missed. Maybe another location near you will open up and give classes on hand knitting, maybe a new art gallery will open with space for new and emerging artists. Look to the future and what might be, that is what I am trying.

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  13. Sorry you didn’t get a chance to visit the Brooklyn Art Library. Thanks for the thought. I agree we can’t just give up on life. Taking precautions and branching out slowly is a great way to start. We are still at shelter-in-place and now we have fires all over the area so there’s not much happening here yet. 😦

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    1. What is legal, moral and not reckless that you’ve always been scared to do but know it would make your heart sing? Or, if you chose not to clean your bathroom this week, what would you love to fill in that time with?

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  17. turns out another museum a state away reopened, so we’re looking forward to another lil artsy trip. Btw you should ask your friend if they got their book digitized at Brooklyn Art Library that is an option that’s been in place there pre covid.

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      5. A friend of mine once went on a sales trip to the USA and reported on two shopkeepers with pistols – one in NYC had a concealed carry permit and the one in Texas just strapped it to his belt. It was all very strange to a man from England. I must admit that it would not be good to arm me in my present mood. 🙂

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      6. Texas is a whole other world….but if the nyc trip was pre mayor Bloomberg then yeah….I get it. Though I’m betting antiquities dealers and such have more reason

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