<b>By Susan Stone</b>

This week has been full of lessons for me. A single message has come up over and over, almost as a theme. So I trust that what has touched me so profoundly will also touch you.

<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Susan-Stone.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-18571" alt="Susan Stone" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Susan-Stone.jpg" width="113" height="158" /></a>We celebrated my grandson’s fifth birthday this week and we enjoyed being together as a family. It has been too long since we have all been together. We have very busy lives, don’t we all? Even though we all live in Beaufort County, only separated by a few miles, we’re just too busy to get together unless there’s a special occasion.

As I said goodbye to my Mama, I told her I missed her and I feel like we should spend more time together. She responded by saying, “We’re all so busy.”

I told her, “I don’t want to be too busy to see my Mom.”

Coincidently (I love synchronicity), my very wise teacher sent me a CD of one of her talks. She does not call them sermons because her intention is not to preach but to teach. She shared about a woman who had come to her for counsel. This woman had a sad story to tell.

Her father was a hard man. And growing up they were not very close, but after her mother died she and her father tried to mend their relationship. They lived some distance apart and so did not see each other often. Her father invited her for visits, but her work schedule was too busy and something always came up. One year for Father’s Day she found the perfect card. It expressed exactly the sentiment she wanted to send him. It was full of love and forgiveness. The card sat on her desk addressed and sealed, and day after day she intended to buy stamps. Father’s Day came and went with the card still lying on her desk. She comforted herself with the thought, I’ll send it next year. She did not know that next year would be too late.

The days and years are rolling by. We always feel that there will be time to do the things we don’t have time for now. What if we don’t? What if the great teacher Death comes tonight? What would you do if you knew you had one more week? Who would you contact? What would you love to do before you leave this planet?

There is only one day: Today! There is only one moment: Now! There are no tomorrows. When you wake up it will be today all over again. If God could give you a watch, it would say NOW.

The truth is we are only as busy as we want to be. “No” is a complete sentence. It is one of the most powerful words in the English language. If you will notice, we all get the same 24 hours to work with. Why do some of us have enough time to write letters and read books, or go for a walk? While the rest of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off? It has nothing to do with working or retired, children or childless. It is all about choices. If we think that we are the only ones who can do things right, or that we have to do it all, then we are going to be very distracted from what is important, not to mention tired.

As a hospice volunteer for over 20 years, I have seen firsthand the regrets of unfinished business. It’s heartbreaking.

Too often have I experienced regret in my life. My excuses will not comfort me the next time I miss an opportunity to tell someone how special they are to me. I am grateful for the messages from my 88-year-old teacher. She has lived long enough to understand how simple life is meant to be. Thank you Marian, I’m calling my Mama today.

<i>You can find Susan at Beaufort Chiropractic. She is an intuitive healer, Reiki Master, minister and counselor. Author of “We Heard You,” available on Amazon.com You may contact Susan at theriverangel.ss@gmail.com.</i>
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