Live.

I was buying jewelry for my little Paparazzi jewelry endeavor, and I was struck by a yellow gold necklace with a little silver tree on it. On the bottom was simply written the word,"Live".

I try to pick out jewelry that speaks to me, and that I think my friends who buy the jewelry will also relate to. This one was a big one for me. So obvious, but for my tangled brain, so profound.

Life is such a gift. Some people realize it as they are fighting breast cancer at age 39. Tears come, listening to the pitter-patter of little children's feet down the hallway, with prayers to watch them grow. Some people realize it when a loved one dies suddenly and unexpectedly, with so many words left unsaid between them. There are some that realize it when they suffer a cardiac arrest at age 45, only to survive, and know that God isn't done with them yet. I imagine some don't realize it until the children are grown and gone. Children they didn't take family trips with, or play catch in the back yard with because there was no time. And some people, some lucky few, realize it every day that they open their eyes and put their feet on the floor.

But it isn't enough to know it! We have to do it. Too many of us really don't. Not well. Not abundantly. Not with the passion and reckless pursuit of our dreams that a full life is made of. We are so busy documenting our lives on social media, that we don't remember what we did, just what we took a picture of. We stand feet from legends at concerts, and we watch them perform on the screen we hold in front of us to record them, rather than live in the moment.

And "live" is profound to me because too often I choose worry. I choose self doubt. Sometimes, when I get the choice to sit it out or dance, I sit it out.

This necklace hit me in my heart because it reminded me of what I already know that I need to do.

Go forth, bravely, and relentlessly into this life...

and live.