When I'm gone

   Dear diary,

   I had so much to chew upon these last days, but the most striking thing that still follows me like a shadow is this girl's death. She was a 26 year old blogger, a writer to a fashion magazine, a woman, a girl, a beautiful being. And it's sad to use the past when talking about her. Even if I never knew her in person and I barely discovered her blog right the night before she passed away, I put myself in her shoes from the first line I read on her blog. I identified myself with her because of how and what she used to write. And I agree with her: "I am sure life is a big fat lesson". So now I ask myself: "What if it were me instead of her?" "What if today I'm crafting my Advent calendars and tomorrow something happens and ... Boom. I'm just not here anymore." 

   You know, people keep telling us life is short, but we live like we're immortal. After this blogger's episode I feel like waking up from a long dream and realizing life IS short. Freakin' short. And if you think about it, so many people don't fully live their age. We listen to society pushing us here and there, being this way or that way, doing this or that, but who are we really? 

   Here I am, folding paper and enjoying it. I love crafting. And I love the fact that I discovered it now, while I'm 25, not married and without kids. I am well aware that when the time will be right, I won't have the free time I have now. So why does society keep pressing us to move on with the tide when we want to wait for the right tide? 

   I want to enjoy every age and dream out loud. And when I die I want to die smiling. Knowing that I did everything I could to enjoy life at its best, love people, heal people and the world around me. Life is short. Even if we get to reach 70.
  Let's fully enjoy our age and later on be happy at the memory of every step taken. Let's be thankful for every little thing we have in our life. Better yet, let's be thankful for what we don't have as well. Because everything happens for a reason and "life is a big fat lesson"...

D.

Day 312. The ultimate gift

   There are a loooot of movies out there: the bad ones you regret having watched, the ones perfect for a boring Sunday afternoon, those that are half bad and half good and you don't know if you like them or not, the ones that are pretty good but the subject might be somewhat overused and then... there are the ones that just leave you breathless. The cornerstones. The ones that sweep you off your feet. Those that take you by the hand and by the time you realized what happened you're already living life alongside with the characters, experience intense emotions with them, laugh and cry and learn. Learn a lot of things. Learn that the mere fact of you having been born is important. 

   "The ultimate gift" is one of the cornerstones. The kind of movie you're glad you're alive to have seen it. The kind that changes your life forever and reminds you how important it is to LIVE life. Enjoy every bit of it. Leave behind all the unnecessary baggage you're dragging with you daily and finally wake up and see what's Important. The kind of movie everybody should see. So if you haven't seen it by now, just go and do it. I promise you won't regret it:)

"Neither love, nor hate thy life; but what thou livest, live well; however long or short may the heavens permit."

Day 142. Go the extra mile

   Most of us are lazy... ok, maybe not every day, but surely from time to time, sometimes as a consequence of too much work done. Nevertheless, being lazy and spending the weekends indoors makes us not enjoy life as much we should.

   Today dad took us to a place we've never been to during wintertime. Even if at first we didn't agree with going outside the city, in the end his idea got to be brilliant. I had new photographic material, we enjoyed the fresh air, walked a little in the snow and bathed in the sun. So it was definitely worth it leaving the cozy home for some hours! 
   In the end I came to a conclusion: I should get out of my comfort zone more often: see my friends even if I'd like to see a movie instead, look for new ideas to surprise the kids during my activities, open up to things that involve a little more effort than usual since the result will always be satisfying:)

          Life's short anyway, so why not enjoy it?