Home » Partners & Parents » Golden Years » Today is Here, Tomorrow Never

Today is Here, Tomorrow Never

© Sharon Tabor Warren

It was one of those signs with the removable letters. They are not attractive or aesthetically pleasing in any way but occasionally a message so displayed catches our eyes. This one was in Amherst County, Virginia, and I passed it each day as I went to work.

It was spring, the redbuds were fading and the dogwoods in sparkling array. I am an Enrolled Agent, licensed by the Internal Revenue Service to represent taxpayers, and am employed by a regional CPA firm. In spite of the beauties of the Virginia spring, it's a time of year when my body and mind are protesting from too-long hours spent on tax work and too few hours spent in the pursuit of other pleasures.

As spring beckons the young man, and turns his mind to thoughts of love, it beckons me to walks along the Blue Ridge or strolls beside the James and Maury Rivers, to evenings beside a campfire or even hours spent reading a good book while the gentle patter of a warm spring rain hits the window.

The sign was a gentle and daily reminder that life, like the spring, is slipping away from me. I'd been contemplating semi-retirement--foregoing the weekly paycheck in favor of a more sporadic income as a self-employed tax preparer and sometime-writer--for almost a year. I've now made that decision and advised my employers I won't return for another tax season. I'll complete my pending projects this summer and early fall, interspersed with considerable time away from work, and segue into my truly golden years.

A great weight has been lifted. It's time to smell the flowers and listen to the music.

My generation, reared by parents who suffered through the Great Depression, has been steeped in making preparations for a rainy day. A certain amount of that is needed in each of our lives (future columns will address some of these issues) but we cannot and should not live just for tomorrow. To quote Horace, "Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow."

We need to borrow a bit of philosophy from the old man who didn't fix the roof when the sun shone because it wasn't leaking and who couldn't fix it when it leaked because of the rain. There's nothing wrong with a bit of that procrastination in every life.

Mother always said, "Don't put off till tomorrow what can be done today." She was molded by old country hardworking German ethics, tempered by agrarian near-poverty upbringing and fine-tuned by the depression years. I can't say she was wrong, but perhaps she was misguided.

The copyright of the article Today is Here, Tomorrow Never in Golden Years is owned by Sharon Tabor Warren. Permission to republish Today is Here, Tomorrow Never in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.