And so it goes. We all get on the bus excited about the journey. Faces pressed against the window thrilled with each new image swooshing by. We get off at each upcoming stop, jumping out to experience the new destination and inhaling deeply to savor everything. For the lucky ones that includes the Stuckeys nut roll on the Florida turnpike. And then as time passes we begin to focus on other activities busying ourselves knowing that we can always look out the window later or get off at the next stop because there will be many more.

But I'm not talking about the old yellow school bus or the gleaming,silver Greyhound. I'm thinking about the big multi-colored, cosmic bus of life. You know the one we get on thinking it will travel forever or at least for a super long time? But hold on there Buckaroos. Take a look at the ticket you shoved down deep in your pocket. There ain't no final destination on there right? Peer down to the small print. Yes I will wait while you get your damn readers! It says in super easy to read Helvetica that you're guaranteed a trip...but no destination and not even a minimum duration. Even the Über App can't fix that.

My feeling is that the game was set up this way on purpose. How best to make us mortals realize the gift that life is than to have it occasionally taken away? Cruel perhaps. Sad of course. But striking to be sure. And yet we can, with so little apparent effort, block that reality completely out.

Survival mechanism I suppose.

Change is a great example. We all know that change is inevitable and yet....we make all sorts of plans based on the notion that nothing will change. It's somehow comforting. Think of the strangely reassuring mortgage. It's based on 15 or 30 years not seconds. You could characterize it as lack of awareness or that we all possess a healthy dollop of hope.

I love hope, I live hope....hell on really good days I'm rolling around in hope without even changing into my play clothes.

But when I need the ultimate motivation it's not a banking statement or a newspaper article, or a catchy phrase from a fortune cookie...it the awareness of the journey and the tiny disclaimer on the ticket. It's pretty simple. I like simple. I understand simple. It goes like this...

Life is precious, people are treasures, and today is when to do what really matters to you. So call em or hug em and thank em, dust off your dream, believe in it and start it. Today is an excellent day! Look out the window and then bound down those stairs and out into the fresh air. It's good right?