Some good advice from an actor: Live your life to the limit

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Some good advice from an actor: Live your life to the limit

Opinions

Saturday, 20 February 2010 01:56

Commentary
Tom Germond
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Sometimes inspiration comes from unlikely places.
The quote I read above the urinal in a bathroom in a Kissimmee haunt called the Wicked Stepsister a few weeks ago gave me pause.
Essentially, it was a reminder that we are dying; so live.
Such thoughts have been on my mind recently since I met some friends that I’d accompanied on ski trips years ago.
In 1991, a co-worker in Kissim-mee convinced me to go with her ski group to Chamonix, France. A group member bowed out at the last minute, and I was asked to take her place at a greatly reduced cost, about $200 for round-trip airfare and accommodations for 10 days.
I was reluctant to go along because I’d never skied, and I was almost 40 years old. I had only an hour’s notice to pack and meet Ellen at her house. My co-workers, including my boss, practically pushed me out of the newsroom.
“Chicken,” my boss said.
“You’re not married; go for it.”
I said it was a busy time at work.
“When are you going to get a chance like this?”
Two days later, I was learning how to ski in the French Alps, falling every which way, much to the delight of my friends.
I had such a great time, I went on six more trips with the group, skiing, sightseeing and falling down all over breathtaking slopes in France, Austria and Switzerland. We took side trips to some remote villages and toured great cities, such as Munich, Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, Geneva and Salzburg.
I hadn’t seen members of the group in years until I drove to Brandon several weeks ago for the ski group leader’s 70th birthday. Ellis still looked in great shape, and I bet he still is an excellent skier.
Several friends were there – Lonnie, Charlotte, Carmen, and of course, Ellen and her husband Bill. We embraced, reminisced and celebrated Ellis’ birthday. I can’t begin to describe the burden of responsibility that was on Ellis’ shoulders during his trips. But he handled all problems gracefully and was often the life of the party.
At the gathering, I reminded Bill of a trip at night we made to the top of a hill in Austria to go sledding. It was pitch-black, and the owner of the tavern, or whatever it was, told us that the sledding trail was the dirt road we’d taken to get to the tavern. Was he nuts?
Of course he was, and so were we.
“It’s all downhill,” skiers are fond of saying.
I had drunk a few beers that night and there was no way I was going down a pitch-black road on a sled. I’m not that nuts. Was tempted, though. You only die once.
Thoughts of those trips lingered as I drove home from the gathering. I can still feel skis slice the fine powder as we weaved our way down the slopes, see the morning mist shroud the jagged mountain peaks and hear my friends’ laughter as we awkwardly encountered European traditions.
I might never ski again; my knees are gimpy these days. But I’m so glad I skied when I could. The lure of Europe is still powerful, and I must go back there soon – while I’m in good health.
Some friends have died recently; others are not well.
The quote in the bathroom? It was from actor Michael Landon, who died in 1991 at the age of 54. Here’s the full text:
“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now!”
I hear you, Michael.
Because it’s all downhill.
Tom Germond is executive editor of Tampa Bay Newspapers in Pinellas County and former assistant editor at the Osceola News-Gazette.