Today is A Gift

Amardo and I went to go see Kung Fu Panda last night. Yes, we know it's a kids movie, but I'm a HUGE fan of kid movies and Amardo is a kung fu fan so I think it worked out. Plus, hasn't anybody ever noticed that kid movies are JAM PACKED with all sorts of adult innuendos that you have to be a little older to understand? Anyway, Kung Fu Panda was HILARIOUS!!! Now I've noticed that if something truly is funny, I tend to cry when I laugh. I don't know why. I guess it's because I never cried when I was a little kid and now all those stored tears are catching up to me, or my tear muscles (?) are weak. I was laughing so hard I had streaming tears less than 5 minutes into the movie!! Even Amardo, who doesn't laugh at much along the lines of clean family fun, had a good time. And this was from the guy who said he wasn't watching kid movies until he has kids to watch them with. 

The kung fu master said something that was very interesting: 

Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is a mystery,

But today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

I don't know about you, but I think that is some of the most amazing and powerful advice that I've ever heard in a movie, second only to John's soliloquies in the Saw movies (yes, I still think beneath the gore the Saw movies are some of the deepest movies ever created). What was even more interesting and even ironic and really put everything into perspective was that when I walked in the house, my grandmother (who will from now on be referred to as "Bigmama") was watching Oprah and she was featuring people who had been basically told they were going to die soon. One man, who was an instructor at Carnegie Melon University, was told he had only months to live and so had delivered a final lecture to his students, which he presented on Oprah yesterday. Hearing all of that made me realize that we really do spend so much time wrapped up in dealing with the mistakes of yesterday and fears of tomorrow that we forget to live our lives day to day. Because next week isn't guaranteed, tomorrow isn't guaranteed, and if you live anywhere near where I do, two hours from now isn't guaranteed. Anything can happen. 

So treasure the here and now, people. Love your family and let them know you love them. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, tell them how much you care about them. I tell Amardo often how I feel about him not because I'm worried he doesn't think I care; I know he does. I would just HATE for something to happen to either one of us without us knowing how we feel about each other. The same goes for my friends. We only live one life. The only time you can make the best of it is now.