As the late afternoon sun came streaming in through the classroom windows, the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat there. With a reflective look on her face, she paused and said, "Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to class but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end; it can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us we must make the most out of every single day."

With her eyes becoming teary, she continued, "So, I would like all of you to make me a promise: on your way to school, on your way home,...find some thing beautiful to notice. This doesn't have to be some thing you see, it could be a scent as of freshly baked bread wafting from someone's house or it could be a sound as of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees or the sense of the morning's light catching an autumn leaf falling gently to the ground. Please look for these things and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the 'stuff' of life; the little things we are put on earth to enjoy, the things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them for, at any time, it can all be taken away.

The entire class was quiet as we picked up our books and filed out. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home than I ever had. I still think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made and I try to appreciate all those things that sometimes we tend to overlook.

Notice something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do.