Spring is in the air. Winter…bah…humbug…what was it but a bad dream caused by a bit of undercooked meat or a sour stomach. So is life. We live much of our lives either in the past or planning for the future. The grit and determination of the present seem mundane when compared with the golden memories of our past or the august plans for our future. However…today is it…we exist in the nasty or nice now. The past is clouded by our rose-colored glasses and the future by our halcyon aspirations. How could today be special? It is Monday. It is a workday. It is a school day…it is laundry day… It is in its totality… your life…

‘Life seems a bit repetitious don’t you think,’ Neva J. said to Billy B. ‘Indeed I do many of the same things each day,’ Billy B. responded. ‘Why don’t we imagine our hopes for our best selves and take the first step down that road…today,’ Chet postulated. ‘I have always wanted to be a writer,’ Billy B. said. ‘Today is the day to write,’ replied Chet. ‘I would have liked having my own Antique Store…but I never seemed to get around to it,’ Neva J. commented. ‘Why not begin with listing some of the antiques that you want to sell on Facebook and eBay,’ Chet asked? ‘I want to travel and today I am going to call my Travel Agent and book a United Kingdom Cruise,’ laughed Chet with his eyes dancing!

‘These Book Signing events in New York are exciting,’ Billy B. said with a large smile on his face! Eager Bookstore Barnes and Noble customers were lined up around the block to have a moment to speak with Billy B. and get his autograph. He reflected on the days and months and years that he had devoted to writing each day. Writing had become an integral part of his life. For years before he had published a word when people asked him what he did…he would always answer…Writer.

‘Neva J. you have a wonderful Antique Store…where did you come up with the name of ‘Groundhog Day Antiques,’ asked the news anchor? ‘Well Billy B. and Chet and I had a discussion many years ago on a Monday in February…that truly our lives were but one day at a time and if we wanted to achieve something special…we had to begin to implement it beginning that day and each day thereafter,’ Neva J. said. ‘So, I was inspired by the Bill Murray Movie Groundhog Day’ and the sundry adjustments that his character made as he lived the same day over and over and over again,’ Neva J. continued. ‘Repetition…

is the best teacher and I continued to repeat the same principles for success in the Antique business each day for…now…many years…but the years were never in my mind…it was one day at a time,’ Neva J. said with a tear in her eye and a happy face.

Chet’s Travel Agency had a nice ring to it. He had so much business that he had to open offices thru out Southern Illinois. ‘And to think that it all started that day in February that was unseasonably warm and my conversation with Neva J. and Billy B. to treat each day as your life and to not put off anything that you want to achieve or do,’ laughed Chet.