As I slowly opened the last drawer to my wife’s dresser,

 With the intentions to clean it for the very last time,

To my surprise, I found a box wrapped in silk box,

"This was not any ordinary package."

Staring at silk paper,

Staring at the box.

"My wife got this the first time we went to New York many years ago.

She has never put it on,

She was saving it for a special occasion.

Well, I guess this is it.

  He got near the bed,

Placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house,

His wife had just died.

 He turned and said:

"Never save something for a special occasion.

Every day in your life is a special occasion.”
Those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worry.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

 
I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to,

Not survived through.

I no longer keep anything.

I use crystal glasses every day.

I will wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it.

I do not save my special perfume for special occasions; I use it whenever I want to.

 The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my dictionary.

If it is worth seeing,

Listening,

 Doing,

I want to see,

On the other hand, do it now

 I do not know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she would not be there the next morning,

This nobody can tell.

I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.
She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels.

 I would like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food.

It is these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.

I would regret it,

Because I would no longer see the friends I would meet, letters...

Letters that I wanted to write "One of this days.”
I would regret,

Feel sad, because I did not say to my brothers and sons, not times enough at least, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay,

Postpone,

 Alternatively, keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives.
And, on each morning,

I say to myself that this could be a special day.
Each day,

Each hour,

 Each minute, is special.

The words, "One of these days,” is far away...

On the other hand, might never come…
So remember,

Live each day as if it were your last day.