5 Years From Now

“Will this matter in 5 years?”

My friend Camie asked me this back in January.  We were having lunch together and were both trying to separate important life from daily drama.  It’s now become something that I try to ask myself when I can feel my tension level increasing and can tell that I’m getting “my tail feathers ruffled ” (a colorful expression passed down from the Southern women in my family; similar to “getting my panties in a wad”).

I have had a few frowns lately:

-  I spent an entire week at the beach and never had an umbrella in any of my cocktails. (see previous post)

-  Dog vomit.

-  Being the lady in the airport who overloaded one bag to the point that I had to stand at the check-in counter, repacking the bags because the airline wouldn’t take them the way they were.

- Two friends who have bought wigs in the last month to prepare for the effects of their upcoming chemotherapy treatments.

-  Forcing my mother and friend Emily to endure one of my rants on how tired I am of using and hearing the word “busy”.

As you can see, only 1 of the above will matter in the next 5 years.  And, it will matter because those two amazingly strong friends will have beaten their battles against the ugly C-word and will be living renewed lives. 

I’m going to keep asking myself the 5 year question.  It is really helpful in keeping things in perspective and eliminating some daily drama.   

And the near impossibility of me eliminating the word “busy” from my vocabulary makes me smile.