i love you, Today

didn't finish the entire upstairs this weekend. need to put the carseat in the car. pack a hospital bag. should have done that already. put it in the car or by the door? how will we get into the city tomorrow? what time will eric be home? can we meet with the lawyer monday to do our will? what about a notary for that other form? should i set up a bank draft for our mortgage payment? should i have done that already? when is our apartment deposit coming back? need to wash the new clothes. the fence row needs tilled? do we have time-- maybe thursday, maybe saturday? do they deliver? is georgetown too far to walk for lunch? what food will i have for bookclub on sunday? i should have rolled out the trash when i got home last night. what will we pack for lunch on sunday? where do we want to go on vacation next spring? when will he get here? will i be ready? will he be well?

LOTS of planning for the days to come. LOTS of wishing i already had most of this done. needed LOTS of reminding why Today alone is perfect and pleasant. so, i looked up some inspiration and posted my favorites here:

It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crops. ~George Eliot, Adam Bede, 1859

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. ~Art Buchwald

Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way. ~Edna Ferber

We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it. ~John Newton

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. ~Montaigne

Forever is composed of nows. ~Emily Dickinson

It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis. ~Margaret Bonnano

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!Let the dead past bury its dead!Act, - act in the living Present!Heart within and God o'erhead. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Psalm of Life

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. ~Mary Jean Iron (this one is my personal favorite.)

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized. ~Leo Buscaglia

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. ~Dale Carnegie