The Advice Of A Seven-Year-Old Panamanian

Todos los tiempos. For you who are not fluent in Spanish, todos los tiempos means—o significa, as they say—all the time, all the times. And really, what I want to talk about today is just an example of how we really want to live life to the max. I'm going tell you the story of a seven-year-old Panamanian girl, okay?

We live what we live, and what we don't live we don't live.

Alexandra Hill, a citizen of La Ciudad de Panamá—Panamá City, Panamá. She is my good, good, close friend and associate, by virtue of the fact that I am connected with her mother.

She is my daughter; her mother is my wife.

I mean, we've gone out to eat so many times – we’re family! We do adventures, we DisneyWorlded in Orlando, Florida. The biggest wave in the entire blazing world that I've ever seen and also that Alexandra has ever seen, we experienced together. (Of course we crashed and burned; but, that's a whole 'nother story.)

But here's the whole story now: do what you can in the moment.

She's a child. She's seven years old, and she was six years old when we first met.

She didn't quite conceptualize that whenever I showed up in her life, I showed up for a time—I showed up to leave. Now, I knew that, because there's nothing different that's ever happened into my life. I arrive to leave. I repack when I unpack. What does that say?

Of course, she couldn't understand that… So, after our first 6 months together, she was talking about, "I wished I had ridden with Ted more on the motorcycle.“ Her mother told me so.

Hey, I bought a motorcycle for Panamá. Doggone it, if you're gonna be there for a little while, it's cheaper to buy the thing than it is to rent it. It’s certainly more flexible to have in Panamá City traffic than a car is.

She said, "I wished I could have, coulda, shoulda, woulda".

Then, last time I went back, every single evening we had together, we went out and rode the motorcycle together.

You see, not only did she have the realization that she coulda, shoulda , woulda lived not knowing what tomorrow brings - but when she had the opportunity again, she lived out her realizations.

And that's what I wish for you, from the advice in the actions of a seven-year-old Panamanian girl.