On Christmas day, my mom called me and said that my parents came home from the UPS Store with the wrong package… their Christmas gift from me. Instead, they had a brand new $200 set of stereo speakers belonging to someone else.

For the past year, I have been shipping gifts to them from a UPS Store in New York. The store has been making my parents go find their own package AND pay a $5.00 handling fee each time. My mother is in her 70′s and should not have to go hunt in the cargo area for her own packages or pay any handling fee on a pre-paid shipment.

I am currently trying to get in touch with the appropriate department at UPS who manages these UPS retail stores. It doesn’t sound like proper procedure for picking up a package!

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more content when they are. After that we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza.

He said, “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time…and remember that time waits for no one.

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Thought for the day: “Work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching.”

Author Unknown