by Suzanne Reisler Litwin
Now…is the time. Not tomorrow. Not the next day. Not when you are on vacation. Not when you have reached your perfect weight. Not only on your birthday. Not when you deserve it. Not when the stars, the moon, and the planets are all perfectly aligned.
Today is the day to eat the chocolate.
A couple years ago a colleague of mine lost her beloved husband. They had great plans to travel and enjoy each other’s company. They were going to visit Africa, Alaska, China, Australia and New Zealand. They were going to travel, see the world, and taste the glorious foods. They were going…to eat the chocolate, everywhere!
All those plans came to a sudden halt when her husband suddenly got sick and without much warning passed away.
In the midst of her heartbreak, she told me, “In life, don’t wait…do!”
She said that all their big plans vanished along with him. She still has hopes to travel, see the world and taste the glorious foods. However, her saddened heart hasn’t given her lift yet. She continues to wait.
After we spoke, I went to my favorite and amazing Chocolatier and bought her a box of delicious handmade chocolates.
I brought them to her and said, “Here my dear friend, taste the glorious chocolates. Now is the time to eat the chocolate.” This was one giant step towards her recovery. She ate two and told me from these chocolates she began to feel a slight lift. She felt the forwardness of her life re-starting again. Her recovery was now in her midst.
I’m certain it wasn’t simply my chocolates that jump-started her recovery. I’m sure she was well on her way, in her own way and time.
This statement, eat the chocolate, is two-fold. In one frame it means, now is the time to enjoy life and to indulge in the simple joys. Not to wait, for you never know what tomorrow will bring. It also means to release yourself of your burdens and enjoy some sim-bliss-ity”.
The word sim-bliss-ity is a word I’ve made up. You can find this new word in the Urban Dictionary. It means to enjoy simple pleasures in a blissful way. It can be used in a sentence like, “His kiss was sim-bliss-ity and delicious”. Words are made up every day and you can make them up just as easily as anyone else can. You don’t have to be a Webster genius or a scholar. You just have to be you.
I try to eat chocolate every day, actually and figuratively. In honesty, my statement should be I try to eat “moderate” amounts of chocolate every day. My consumption is not always controlled in a positive light or should I say lite!
Bottom line is, now is now. This is the time that counts. Yesterday was a was. Tomorrow is something we can plan for and yet, may never come. So if the desire is to do something and go somewhere, etc., the time to do it is now. Figure it out and Go, See, Be, Do it. Don’t wait for all the planning of life to be perfect, for it might not come to be.
Eat the chocolate. Dance in the rain, call that friend. Say I love you. Make that difference. Fulfill that dream. Now.
Eat the glorious foods. Eat the chocolate. In my case, Sue, eat the chocolate in moderation!
Suzanne Reisler Litwin is an instructor at Concordia University in The Centre for Continuing Education – Communications Department. She is a writing instructor at The Cummings Centre. She writes a weekly column in The Suburban Newspaper and at the West Island Blog. Suzanne is a freelance contributor to The Suburban Newspaper, West island Blog, Wise Women Canada, The Metropolitain, and Women on the Fence. She is the author of the children’s book, The Black Velvet Jacket. Visit suzannereislerlitwin.com
to read more of her published articles, books, and poetry.
