I had the joy of watching “Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays” the other night—if you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it.  This is such an important work and such a beautiful demonstration of what happens in life when supported, loved, believed in, and when we have faith.  It’s also a testament to the power of living and sharing stories.  I had no clue Crystal was such a profound story teller.  I mean, I’ve loved his work and he is hilarious, but the depth and breadth and connection as well as the relatability of this story cut me to the core in the best possible way.  As we ended yesterday’s piece, I spoke about standing in our light and allowing the bloom, allowing the timing of our lives.  I also spoke about how we don’t know how much time we get.  Crystal affirms this in his piece, talking about how he lost his father after roughly 700 Sundays—about 15 years.  While it was one of the toughest things in his life, he moved forward with love and support and he saw people around him work with determination and drive, and he followed his instincts.   

The story dives deeper than that.  Life is about experiencing life.  It’s about being present and making memories with others and the things we can create together. There was a determination to get things done—if it needed to be done it wasn’t lamented, they simply did the damn thing.  Frustration existed, of course, but they didn’t let that stop them.  They found a way through it and they did what they had to do.  To be fair there were less distractions and there were more opportunities to find ways to get things done.  But today’s society is so used to having things available to them 24/7 and having instant gratification that we have truly become a generation of whiny brats.  We are so spoiled, expecting things to come to us immediately.  We’re more concerned about an incorrect coffee order than we are about people’s lives being taken/infringed upon.  We have forgotten the beauty of the complexity of human nature and what it means to live.  The magic is here and now and time moves too quickly—we never know when that last Sunday will be.      

At the end of the day we are all dealt certain cards in life, some we’d feel are good and some bad.  But that isn’t the purpose of the cards.  Life truly is about how we play those cards and how we react, what we can make of them.  While we never know how much time we get, we know we are here now.  And if we are here now as breathing, thinking, beings, we are able to do something with that time.  See, so many people look for grandeur and fame or things, the reality is life’s joys come from the simplest things—doing the things we love, being with those we love.  Following our hearts and our talents.  Now, not everyone can grow up as Crystal did—he was in the heart of the jazz movement and heavily involved in entertainment because his family was.  Sure they wanted to secure themselves but they were simply doing what they loved—being together and enjoying music. The point we can take from this is the same: do what we love and become so good at it that it becomes a beacon.  Great things happen and we aren’t even aware of all the implications at the time.  We simply live and learn and we make memories and feel and share love along the way.  Again, we never know how much time we get—and we never know how much time we get with those we love.  It’s up to us to decide to play or fold in this life or to sit and bitch about what we have or appreciate every card and play it to its fullest.  I’m all in.