MMMMMM, MMMMMM GOOD

Do you remember the ad campaign for Campbell's soup?  Mmmmm, mmmmm good.  Actually that ad ran as .... That's what Campbell's soups are - mmmmm mmmmm good!  How about Maxwell House coffee (which by the way is horrible)?  Good to the last drop.  It is not good to the last drop.  Actually it is crappy to the last drop just like the first drop was.  Obviously if companies can persuade and tout their products as being "good" it paints an image in a consumer's head.  The image of good equates to wanting to experience it again.  Whatever the product, whatever the experience, if I like it I will choose it again.  You want returning customers.  There is a catch though to getting a repeat customer.  Their first experience has to be great.  I love TOMS toothpaste.  Some say you have to acquire a taste for it (that would be my husband Doug) as it is devoid of artificial sweeteners and tons of artificial flavors.  I find it pure and ultimately refreshing.  It is more pricey than mainline Crest or Colgate.  Because of its elevated cost per tube, I squeeze every last morsel of toothpaste out.  I don't want to waste even one slathering on my toothbrush by throwing it away too early.  I have been tempted a time or two to cut the damn tube open and use a spatula to get it all:)   Isn't it funny how I will take you from soup to coffee to toothpaste and then straight to the connection in my mind or heart?  One of our kids recently teased that as we age we get more emotional, more easily moved to tears.  She is right.  Thinking about stuff we want more of, products that we love connects me to human experiences in life that are good (don't look at the bad right now).  I look back to things that were good in my life and wonder if I squeezed all I could out of them.  I'm a pretty in the present, cognizantly aware-of-the-moment kind of soul.  And, I have tried to live my life that way. But, as I age I look back and wonder did I sit in the sun enough so to speak.  In just a few short days I will have been with my husband for one year.  This year has flown by.  I am finding age to be a lightening speed kind of experience.  Warp speed almost.  In this torrid pace which hurtles me faster toward the bottom of the hill, I want to squeeze all the toothpaste out of every day.  I realize that the days ahead are not guaranteed.  The days behind me I cannot undo, redo or edit.  The only thing I have control over is how fully present I am with what is in front of me.  What cup of coffee I have in my hand.  With what measure of purpose and joy I choose to live daily with.  I love good stuff in all areas of my life.  Who doesn't!  I want rich southern pecan coffee over Folgers.  I want loving relationships with my family.  I want fulfillment in being who God created me to be.  At the end of every day I want to say.... mmmmmm, mmmmmm good.  I want to say that until I finish my last drop.