YOLO

I recently became familiar with the term YOLO.  My son used it in his graduation speech and I had to sheepishly ask him afterwards what it meant.  "Mom, you know, it means 'You Only  Live Once'!"  Of course I know the phrase, "You Only Live Once" and have heard it at least a million times, but I don't think of it as YOLO.

It's hard to stay on top of the latest in lingo.  Everywhere I turn, I either hear or see someone saying YOLO or it's stamped on T-shirt's or painted and written as graffiti on walls and sidewalks.

The rapper Drake started the trend earlier this year when YOLO was used as a lyric in a song called "The Motto," in which Drake sings, "You Only Live Once.  That's the motto baby, YOLO."

I guess every generation has its own catch phrase expressing appreciation for the wondrous gift of life and that every day is the chance to go for it.

It reminds me of the phrase (and I'm going to date myself here) "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" that was popular in the '70's.  I can clearly see the black and white poster in my friend's dorm room that was an enlarged picture of a guy walking along the shore with his back to the camera and this phrase is printed above in the clouds.

When you lose a loved one there may be many times when you don't even want a new day to begin.  You want time to go backwards to when your loved one was with you.  You may not want to live, but your loved one wouldn't want you to approach life in that way.  Your loved one would probably want you to appreciate the time you have instead of vegging in bed and escaping life.

We wish that our loved ones could still talk to us.  Wouldn't that be fantastic?  But they can't and even though you may feel their spiritual presence they can't communicate by having a conversation with you.  But I bet if they could, they would tell you to make the most of the time you have and remind you that. . . . . . . .   YOLO!