When Doug and I were ending our fun, relaxing adventure in Vietnam several weeks ago, I looked forward to easing back into our life in California. No push, simply enjoying.

But this was not to be. A series of unexpected events – getting sick from the food on the flight home, complications purchasing the ranch where we board our horses, and a very sick, much-loved kitty – all combined to make for a hugely stressful, painful time for me. I am just now beginning to get my feet under me and in a stronger, more joyous way.

During those overwhelming days, I discovered a lot about myself, my beliefs and fears, and how I live my life, some that were not so fun to look at. The bottom line is I have chosen to get back to basics, to what’s really important to me, and to lay an even more solid foundation for myself.

You see, what really matters most to me is to have fun, be happy, live true to who I am, and to deeply enjoy and cherish the much-loved people in my life.

Losing our precious Momma Kat brought me to my knees and taught me so much. During her lifetime, she chose to move from being a feral cat who barely let us see her, to having kittens in our tack room at the ranch, to her living contentedly in our home with us. Our time together was filled with powerful, heart-touching memories.

Yet there were too many times I took her for granted, didn’t pet her as much as we both wanted, didn’t make the time. And now she’s gone…no more second chances or tomorrows. Makes my heart hurt.

I spent many loving, heart-fulfilling hours with her during the last 11 years and especially during those last few weeks as she purred contentedly . Now I’m learning to accept the missed opportunities and to treasure our memories and time shared. What a precious kitty she was!

I don’t want to repeat this pattern again! Throughout the years, I’ve done this too many times, suddenly losing someone dear to me and feeling I didn’t enjoy and love them enough while they were still here.

I am a creative person. I love imagining and creating fun experiences. I love all the wondrousness of life! Yet, too often, those joyous ‘to do’s’ become ‘have to’s’, the joy gone, and I’m not present with my loved ones as much as I truly want.

I observe most of us go through life believing there will be a tomorrow. That our wonderful son, daughter, partner, parent, ourselves, will still be here tomorrow. Just as they are today.

But life doesn’t work like that. None us truly know what the next moment will bring. We anesthetize ourselves to this reality by ignoring it, assuming someone, a way of life will still be there when we awaken the next day.

I’m taking an honest look at my life. What matters most to me. Who and what would I most miss or regret if it were gone in the next breath?

At the top of my list are my happiness and  my wonderful family, including our kitty Cassie and our horses Destiny and Echo, and I’m making these a full-on priority.

It’s so easy to be busy. To fill our lives, our children’s lives, our partners lives with things to do and people to see. It’s so easy to take loved ones for granted, to tolerate things and situations we don’t really enjoy or that diminish our aliveness, to get caught in unwanted patterns that repeat over and over.

We thought . . . life by analogy was a journey, was a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end. And the thing was to get to that end. Success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing, or to dance, while the music was being played. – Alan Watts

I invite you to join me in ‘singing and dancing while the music plays. and asking the really important questions.

What matters most to you?  Whom do you want to love and treasure more? What are you going to do differently to live your life more fully?