Someday never comes

It’s late in the third quarter of my life, and it’s finally dawned on me that someday is today.

Someday is a catchall word used flippantly. It’s a time you won’t find on any calendar. “Yes, we’ll go to Paris someday.” Or maybe, “I’m going back to school to finish my degree someday.” But when is someday?

Jilda and I watched a movie this week, and a line in it stung me like a yellow jacket.

Tom Cruise starred in the movie “Knight and Day” with Cameron Diaz. The character played by Diaz said, “I always thought I’d drive dad’s GTO to Cape Horn someday.”

The character played by Cruise reflected for a moment before saying, “Someday is a dangerous word.”

Diaz looked confused, and then Cruise said, “That’s a code word for never.”

I’m not sure how a line in a movie by fictional characters could affect me in such a deep and profound way, but it did. I guess I realized the truth of those words.

Through the years, I’ve done a good job documenting my goals, hopes and dreams. It’s easy to look back to see what I wanted to do 25 years ago. I can also look through my journals and read where we went and what we did. The gaps between what I wanted and what I did are sizable.

That’s not to say that we didn’t do many enjoyable things. We’ve traveled, visited, performed and did meaningful things, but there were so many we scheduled for someday.

Many times the delay was because we fooled ourselves into thinking we didn’t have the money to do something or go somewhere. But if the transmission failed in one of our cars, or the fridge went on the fritz, we found the money to replace them. So why couldn’t we find the money to go to Paris?

Part of living is making choices, and looking around our home as I type these words, I see the things we chose.

The deep sense of satisfaction we get in knowing that our home is paid for is worth a great deal. There were times we thought we needed a bigger house in town, but thankfully we put those plans off until someday.

These last few years since I retired have been educational.

Health has always been a priority with us, so that’s why it was such a shock when Jilda began having issues with infection.

She’s now receiving monthly treatments to keep her immune system at a level so it can fight off lung infections. The side effects of these treatments can be brutal.

I said that to say this: We’re removing someday from our vocabulary.

We can’t afford to squander time, and neither can you ... even if you’re 20 years old.

In the broad expanse of time, we are on this earth for less than the blink of an eye.

If you want to do something someday, I suggest you get out your planner, find a date that works, write it down and then make it happen. Forget about someday.