One early Sunday evening a few years back, I had just finished giving my daughter's a bath when I heard a light knock on the door. I went downstairs to find my mom's best friend from Texas, Mary, at the door.
"Mary! What are you doing here?" I exclaimed. Wondering how and why Mary ended up on my quaint porch in Cold Spring, NY.
After we settled in on my patio, she explained that she had flown from San Antonio to New York on a whim to watch the Belmont Stakes horse race. And she has seen American Pharoah win the Triple Crown! Something that had not been done in 37 years! She was absolutely giddy!
Mary was 72-years-old at the time, though she looked and acted much younger, and had been battling cancer for several years. It had started in her stomach and moved down to her cervix. She told me this all very matter-of-factly as we sipped our tea in setting summer sun.
After her diagnosis, Mary stayed working and had visited every place she had longed to see from Ireland to Sonoma. If she couldn't find friends or family to travel with, she'd go alone.
"I invited my friend to Maine with me," Mary told me, "And she told me 'next year.' I told her, 'Let's now, the time is now!'"
Mary did go to Maine, and to many, many more beautiful places. And she kept working, right until cancer finally took her.
I'm so grateful Mary came to share her wisdom with me that day.
She reminded us that when your heart calls, the time to listen is always now.
Want to write your book? The time is now.
Want to take the dance class, look for a new job, forgive that person.
The time is now.
I know the world is nuts right now. And maybe that's why we should listen even harder to the whispers of our soul. Maybe doing something crazy right now in a crazy world is actually a sane and beautiful act of hope.
I think Mary would agree.
Sending you all big love!
xo R
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