A wise person who has lived a long life

 A wise person who has lived a long life understands something many of us learn too late:

you have to live one day at a time and honor every little desire while you still have it.

Because, for some reason, as the years go by, those desires become fewer and fewer.

Many years ago, when my wise grandmother was still alive, she said something to my mother and me that I have never forgotten.

We were hanging new curtains before Easter.

At the time, those curtains were considered very stylish — dramatic swags, little tassels, asymmetrical layers, all the fancy details that were popular back then.

But they refused to stay on the curtain rods.

They kept falling on our heads.

We complained, struggled, laughed, tried again, and then started all over.

And then my grandmother looked at us and said:

“Not so long ago, I would have jumped to the ceiling with joy if I had curtains like these.

But now… I don’t even have the desire anymore.”

She paused and added:

“It passes, girls.

Desire passes.

For things.

For people.

For almost everything.”

Then she said something I understand more deeply with every passing year:

“Do things while you still want to do them.

Spend a little money on silly things.

Don’t save every penny.

A silly little thing can bring joy.

Saving everything rarely does.

What are you saving it all for? Your funeral?

No one has ever been left unburied.

Be happy while happiness still comes easily.

Love while your heart still wants to love.

Because one day, even another person’s warmth may not feel necessary anymore.

One day, you may not want much at all.

Maybe nature does that on purpose, so we can leave this world more peacefully — without clinging so tightly to things or to people.

I am ready to go now.

But if I could return to your age, I would live one day at a time.

And I would be grateful for every desire that still lived inside me.”

My grandmother has been gone for many years now.

But I live exactly the way she taught me:

one day at a time,

grateful for every little desire,

and every bit of joy that still finds me.