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"Years ago, I was sitting on the bleachers in my high school gym, listening to some comedian/educator they&amp;#039;d hired in for an assembly program, and he was going on and on about his high school years. Then he said something in closing that I&amp;#039;ll always think back on: &amp;quot;Remember these days, kids. They&amp;#039;re the best days of your lives.&amp;quot; I vividly remember sitting there and thinking &amp;quot;Oh God, please don&amp;#039;t let that be true.&amp;quot; The best days of my life? High school? Are you nuts??? Oh, it wasn&amp;#039;t all bad, mind you. But even then I knew that the best years of my life were yet to come. I look back now on high school, and then college, and I remember some really good years. Some of those days will definitely be among the best of my life, but that&amp;#039;s the beauty of life. It starts over again every day, and I have a chance to have more days like that. And more. And more. Which brings me to now, a time that most would consider to be (*gasp*) middle age. Yes, I&amp;#039;m on the downhill run, ladies and gentlemen. I have half of my life to look back on, and I have to say that as good as a lot of it was, it&amp;#039;s not the better half. Not by far. I&amp;#039;m older now, but with the years came not only wisdom (though wisdom does elude me from time to time), but peace, and the realization that contentment and joy can be sought and found, discovered and experienced and wallowed in. Even if it&amp;#039;s only for a moment, it&amp;#039;s a moment you&amp;#039;ll keep forever and a moment you&amp;#039;ll look back on and savor \u2013 so go for it! You&amp;#039;ll still have to pay bills and your car will still break down and your family will experience all its ups and downs, but seizing a moment of joy puts that all in perspective, if you let it. It&amp;#039;s funny how you have to be older to get your eyes off the long-term things and focus on the here and now. Do I still hope to retire somewhere near a beach? You bet. But when I&amp;#039;m sitting on my screen porch with a mug of tea and listening to the birds, I&amp;#039;m not thinking about my 401K. Am I concerned about my family&amp;#039;s future? Absolutely. But when I&amp;#039;m chasing fireflies with my kids, the future is here and now and it&amp;#039;s bright and glowing and all that it should be. I&amp;#039;ve had my share of ugly in this life of mine, but lots of happy, too. It helps when you don&amp;#039;t sit around and wait for the happy to come to you. I look back on the last half of my life, and I know I&amp;#039;m in the better half now \u2013 the half I can appreciate more. What do you consider &amp;quot;the best years of your life&amp;quot;? Are they here and now? And if not \u2013 why not? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a45125/the-better-half-2178/>