Sucking the Marrow.

"There never seems to be enough time to do the things that you want once you find them". Jim Croce again. Time has a way of sneaking up on you and then passing you by. John Keating said: "sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone." (Dead Poet's Society). So the trick is to get the most out of life while you can without killing your self in the process. Don't use the old "When we retire we will....." too often. If possible you want to emulate Marco Polo, quoted from Gary Jennings book: When he was dying he explained his behavior thus:" I lived my life so I would never have to say ' I always wanted to, but I never did.' ".

In other words, do what you can while you can and don't depend on the future to be there for you. Enter Sciatica. Sal and I were walking our sweet Catahaula Wednesday when an escaped pit bull attacked her. She was on a lead, so the attack was around our feet. We both tried to break up the one-sided fight, bending, pulling, kicking, lifting. The owner of the pit bull finally got there and dragged him off and away, getting bitten twice in the process. The next day, Thanksgiving, Sal started to hurt. Lower back. Leg. By Saturday she couldn't sit or stand or walk or sleep with out pain. Sunday, after x rays to be sure there was no lower spinal damage, the diagnosis: Sciatica. Take cyclobenzaprene, ibuprofen and rest. Rest. Sally.

This morning Sal is at work, hopefully taking it a bit easier. The sciatica will get better in time, but we both got a wake up call here. Both of us are a heartbeat from some life-changing event. Makes us glad we have sucked some of the marrow from life and not yet choked. And it isn't over yet. There are still pockets of marrow to be sucked, and suck we will.

Sweet Millie is fine. No bites.

Photo: 1.bp.blogspot.com/.../s400/thoreau.jpg