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Last night, I was hanging with my roommate and also trying to figure out what to write about. She is a big fan of the TV show 24 and of course wanted to watch the new season opener. At one point, she picks up the remote and clicks it as if to "exit" the show. I looked up at her and said "You can't exit real life." What I really meant was you can't hit the exit button on a TV program that is being aired. The remote option only works when we are watching a program that we recorded.
We both got a chuckle out it, but then I thought about it and realized it was a perfect topic for a slice. Do you ever wish that life was a little bit like a recorded TV movie? When commercials come on, you can fast-forward back to the action. The phone rings, or someone knocks on your door, or the timer for that pot on the stove goes off and we can pause what we are watching and deal with it and then come back without missing anything. Or a scene is too boring, or scary, or just not what we want to see, and we can just skip it altogether. Wouldn't that be nice thing to do in a meeting when things slow down too much? And best yet, save an episode of life for when you have time to deal with whatever is being aired.
Instead of exiting life, we must live it. And truly living it means dealing with interruptions, with boring times and times that are just plain scary. It also means that those really special moments like when a toddler gets so excited to see you at pick up time or you are hanging together as a family and no one is arguing won't be recorded for multiple viewings and there will be no instant replays. Those moments need to be lived in at the time they are happening and committed to our memory for the human kind of replay.
Maybe staying in life and truly living it is much more exciting than hitting the exit button.
