With Purpose Success, part 63

I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day. 

I would never have bought ANYTHING just because it was practical/ wouldn't show soil/guaranteed to last a lifetime. 

When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner." 

There would have been more I love yous more I'm sorrys   more I'm listenings   but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it ... look at it and really see it   try it on   live it   exhaust it   and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it .. 

We can all learn something from Bombeck's observations about the value of relationships and experiences, and take the time and devote the energy to create our own special moments. 

Growing Close as a Vacateer 

Elisa Sabatini decided to seize every minute after hitting her middle forties.

She thought about the kinds of things that excite her, which include travel, cultural learning, and community service, and figured she was a good candidate to become what I call a vacateer-someone who goes on vacation to volunteer their time in the service of others. Through www.voluntours.org she signed up for her first trip, hoping to forge some friendships with people who share her passions. Sabatini, who is single and fifty-three years old, is now a veteran vacateer, and she remains close to many of those she met on three separate service trips over the past ten years. She cherishes the instant bond that people share when they take time out of their lives and pay their own expenses for the privilege of, say, working in fields or mixing cement as part of a project that will improve the lives of some of the poorest people on earth. 

Sabatini's first experience as a vacateer was a six-week trip to Asia, where she toured India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh with fifteen other volunteers. 

They worked with a local women's group that taught nutrition and health, and found housing and improved security for the residents of poor neighborhoods. "The experience we had there of looking at that culture and then looking at our own culture was really a compelling thing," she says. "I remember one of the guys on the trip said to me that he was so impressed to see that many of the issues in these little villages weren't so different from the issues that everybody deals with-loving your kids, putting food on the table, being sure that you've got a safe house for your children and a decent school in the neighborhood."