Every day we do things. Things we don’t even think about. We just do them. They’re not usually a conscious thought, but learned or repetitive behaviours. Cleaning your teeth for example. It’s second nature to most of us because we were conditioned to clean our teeth every day.

I was thinking today about the frailty of life. Not for any morbid reasons, but because it is frail. We are not guaranteed anything except death. It comes to us all. There is no cheating it. It doesn’t give a flying fuck how much money you have or how good a person you are. One day the pilot light goes out.
The end. You’re just a memory.

I learnt a long time ago that life is to be lived and it’s short so we should make the most of it. To that end, living each moment is a pretty good thing to do. It’s not easy because we are swept up in bigger pictures and wanting more … but none of it is promised.
You have now. This moment.
A very wise woman (Superman called her the Oracle) visited me today and that was the subject matter. Live now. Don’t wait. Don’t save things for ‘best’ or a special occasion. You’re alive. That is the occasion.

Yesterday, I went shopping for new furniture. I wanted a dining room table and chairs. A new coffee table. A new bedroom suite (including a new bed). The all important wine rack – but not any old wine rack. One that is a proper piece of furniture.
And I enjoyed every second of it. Every second!
I got an emailed quote from a store for everything I wanted. Then added two things, I decided I wanted to add, last night. And I am tickled fucking pink that I did it. I am excited to put new furniture in my new house. It will arrive on moving day. In a perfect world I could snap my fingers and be already moved in and enjoying my new house and new furniture. 🙂

I ordered a skip bin. Because if I don’t love something, I’m not packing it and taking it with me. Once upon a time, I dragged stuff along because someone gave it to me or bought it for me – the usual reasons. I’m not doing that any more. I don’t even care if I spent a bomb on it and now no longer like it. So what? It was what I wanted at the time. That moment might’ve lasted a lot of years but now it’s done. Moving on.
I am using the most stunning of full dinner sets as daily use as required (when the kids are here and we need a lot of plates) – it’s Royal Doulton ‘Frost Pine’. (Look it up.) It was my parent’s wedding china. It was used on ‘special occasions’. I also use their silver service, every day. It is ‘morning star’. It’s made to be used, it is in use. I did the same with the silver service I was given as a 21st gift from my grandparents. We used it every day. My kids grew up with it. I have no patience for ‘saving’ something for best. What is the point of having something beautiful and not enjoying it? (Also, it meant I was fairly sure no werewolves were eating with us.)

If you’re wondering where this is going, same. 🙂
I’m ditching all my white flatware. It served its purpose. It was easy to replace pieces when the kids were younger. It was practical and functional. Break a plate? No worries, go get another one. But now, I’m using a stunning pottery set given to my mum by the Oracle. Doris and I don’t need a hundred plates when it’s just us. (And we loved the handprinted cheerfulness of the set.)

Ever since my first book was published, I have kept a copy. I have all the original covers, then the ‘new’ ones, and now the final new ones. I have copies of my stories that are no longer in print. It’s a lot of books. It’s nice to see the progression over the years but do I need to keep them all? No, I do not. Do I want to keep them all? Not really.
There is a full set of FBI-Byte Series books with mismatched covers (evolution). I’m pretty sure they’re not coming with me. I love those books so much but I don’t love the old covers and old formatting. I’m done carrying stuff around.

Anywho, in the spirit of living in the now, changes are happening. It’s been a fast but also a cosmic process. When things line up like they have over the last eight months, it gives pause. I couldn’t have imagined the progression, I don’t think the stars have aligned like this before for me. And it’s amazing. We still have a LOT to do over the next 7 days.

Give me another week after that to settle and I’ll be writing from my new office. (I just relegated my massive desk to the garage as a project table … so I might need to go desk hunting!)

My advice to anyone reading this; Live now. Don’t wait. Take that trip. Buy that whatever. And be grateful for everything.