It was a gorgeous fall day on our North Florida barrier island yesterday and once again I was in my office  at the computer working my eBay listings. My husband, a convicted work-a-holic as well was in his home office working on one of our many websites. At about 2: 30 in the afternoon he called upstairs to invite me for a walk on the beach (less than a block from the cottage). With a sigh I looked at all the listings I still needed to put up on eBay, but gave in and got ready for what turned out to be a revelation.
Mid seventies, beautiful sun, soft sand, shells and shark teeth galore and friendly people abound. What a glorious moment in life when everything around us is spelling disaster.

My experience with nature yesterday told me that turning this "better-off" question into a monetary equation, is wrong.  It neglects what life is really all about.
You may be earning less than you were four years ago. Your home or your stock portfolio may be worth less. But is that really how we determine whether we are better off?
Maybe you fell in love over the last four years or had a baby that lights up your life. Maybe you took up photography or spend quality time with your significant other by going to yard sales every Saturday morning. Maybe you moved to an exciting new place. Maybe you spent the last four years honoring your passion, learning more about it, helping more people than ever before.

Economic statistics are fine as far as they go. But they come up short in measuring a life well lived.
Life can't just be about the grim determination to get and have more. Our wisest President Calvin Coolidge said, "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

In our daily struggle for more we often forget that at the end we give greatest tributes to generosity, honesty, courage, mercy, talents well used. Talents that, brought into the world, make it better. That's what we talk about in eulogies, because that's what's important. We don't say, 'The thing about Jim was that he was rich.' We say 'The thing about Jim was he took care of people.'

It doesn't hurt to remember this. Because the one undeniable fact about the last four years is that you now have four less of them left.

So maybe the important thing is not to make more, have more, or spend more. Maybe the important thing is to slow down, be comfortable with what you have and appreciate small things, ordinary things: A sunny walk on the beach, finding a shark tooth, watching your Snorkie go nuts on the waterline, seeing a good friend tanning, holding your other half's hand. How exhilarating!

Rushing from one appointment to the next, we use up our time, putting off the non-urgent, the unessential.
Life is taking on a special poignancy as our time becomes more limited. It becomes richer and more meaningful because of it. It becomes more important than ever to spend time with the people we love, to create those opportunities - and to savor them.

Are you better off than you were four years ago? Only you can determine what the question even means. But the answer shouldn't require a calculator.
"Enjoy life, it's ungrateful not to," Ronald Reagan once remarked.

I know I will be visiting the beach more often from here on and I'm looking forward to the upcoming Holiday Season to be spend with loved ones and friends.

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