“Live” As In “Live And Let Live”!

An organization I belong to has a slogan “live and let live” which I say aloud sometimes, but don’t really think about very often.  Or I think more about the ‘let live’ part to help understand when something is my business and when it isn’t. But last week I started to wonder what the ‘live’ part of the slogan meant to me, and had a hard time with it.  Hmmm. What does that say about me?  So here’a  my shot at saying what I’ve come up with about the ‘live’ part.  First of all, it means spending quality time with my partner, and that can even mean reading on the couch, face to face, feet touching.  After all, it took me years to find the right person, so ‘living’ should include spending time with him, no?  Enjoying my daughters as much as possible, even though we live eight hours from one another.  A few weeks ago I spent three days with my younger daughter with her two little boys in Seattle  – exhausting, but very fun.  We visited my partners kids in Oakland a week before that; ditto the experience.  And in two weeks, we’re taking the ferry to Victoria to explore the city with my older daughter and her husband, which I’m really looking forward to.  I’m the only one of the four who’s been there, so I know what’s in store, and am really happy about returning there.  I try to do one thing each day that I truly enjoy, but frequently forget.  Gotta do something about that!  Having coffee/tea with a good friend a few times a month.  Making new women friends, since several here are often too busy to do that, or have moved away. That one’s difficult too; takes a great deal of energy to get to know someone new, and build upon that month by month, but I am now making the effort.  I don’t know where I would have been all these years without my few close women friends, but do want to establish a few close friendships with women who live nearby as well.  Walking outdoors, and smelling the earth, the flowers, the sea air.  (I live a block from Puget Sound.)  Checking and responding to comments on my college listserve.  Another way to renew and retain female friends. Eating chocolate!  Not kidding actually.  No need to deprive myself anymore.  Which brings up having friends for dinner, both new and old.  Two couples who had never broken bread with joined us on Friday and it was a great evening.  Got to think about why I have stopped hosting dinner parties., which is clearly something else I need to do something about.  Writing, especially fiction.  I am reworking my new novel – 42 chapters, so it’ll probably be a ‘book one, book two’.  I get so much pleasure creating characters and helping them extricate themselves from difficult situations, or take pleasure in what is.  I learn something from the people I make up every day I work with them, usually four or five a week.  As I write this I’m realizing that I have quite a sizable list, which comes as a surprise.  It’s a treat to realize I actually do most of the things on it with some frequency.  So I guess I am following the directive to ‘live’, which seems a very good thing to me, especially as I begin this seventh decade of live.  If not now, when?  How about the rest of you?