{"id":23,"date":"2005-05-26T21:50:14","date_gmt":"2005-05-27T04:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/?p=23"},"modified":"2005-07-09T00:08:44","modified_gmt":"2005-07-09T07:08:44","slug":"if-i-had-my-life-to-live-over-by-erma-bombeck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/?p=23","title":{"rendered":"IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER &#8211; by Erma Bombeck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> (Written after she found out she was dying from cancer.)<\/p>\n<p>I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren&#8217;t there for the day.<\/p>\n<p>I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.<\/p>\n<p>I would have talked less and listened more.<\/p>\n<p>I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.<\/p>\n<p>I would have eaten the popcorn in the &#8216;good&#8217; living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.<\/p>\n<p>I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.<\/p>\n<p>I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.<\/p>\n<p>I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.<\/p>\n<p>I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.<\/p>\n<p>I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.<\/p>\n<p>I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn&#8217;t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I&#8217;d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle. <\/p>\n<p>When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, &#8220;Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.&#8221; There would have been more &#8220;I love yous.&#8221; More &#8220;I&#8217;m sorrys.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute&#8230;look at it and really see it.. live it and never give it back. Stop sweating the small stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry about who doesn&#8217;t like you, who has more, or who&#8217;s doing what.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, let&#8217;s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Written after she found out she was dying from cancer.) I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren&#8217;t there for the day. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/?p=23\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER &#8211; by Erma Bombeck&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betweenheavenandearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}