Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, a bigger paycheck, a larger house… blah…blah… Do you think you would care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over the boardwalk, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water gap or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a cheerio with her thumb and first finger.

Get a life. Send an email. Write a letter. Kiss your Mom. Hug your Dad, hug your child… Get a life in which you are generous. Look around at the azaleas in the suburban neighborhood where you grew up; look at a full moon hanging silver in a black, black sky on a cold night. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted.

I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my druthers, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back because I believed in it completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this:

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby’s ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived. Just keep your eyes and ears open, the classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end. No man ever said on his deathbed, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”

And every day, in some little way, I try to do what I learned. I try to look at the view. And that’s the last thing I have to tell you today, words of wisdom from a woman with not a dime in her pocket, no place to go, nowhere to be. Look at the view. You’ll never be disappointed!

I am not particularly qualified by profession or education to give advice or counsel. I’ve never earned a Doctorate. I am not an ethicist or philosopher, or expert in any particular field. I can’t talk about the economy, or the universe, or academe, as academicians like to call themselves when they’re feeling grand. I am a writer, a journalist. My work is human nature. Real life is really all I know, and I do with all my heart…

Get a life. A real life. A full life. School never ends. The exam comes at the very end… Trust the process. Enjoy the journey … Thank you for reading!