As if there is no tomorrow

When I hold my baby daughter, it’s hard to believe that just 19 months ago she was just a newborn, so tiny and fragile, with a voice so soft that even her cry was cute. No matter how hard I try to remember how it felt, I can’t. It’s hard to imagine, let alone replicate the feeling.

My newborn daughter is gone. I will never hold her again. She has been replaced by my toddler daughter, and soon she will be replaced too.

We have been told not to take people for granted, because they may die tomorrow. We think about the possible death by fate, but we forget about the certain death by change.

Think about it. You too were a baby once. And where is that baby now? Gone, never to be found. Just as good as dead.

You have to love people as if there is no tomorrow. Because if you stop and think, there really is not.

Legião Urbana. Lyrics to “Pais e Filhos.”

So when I hold my baby daughter in my arms, I remind myself to enjoy every second of it, because I know that this version of her is dying every day. Soon she will be a kid, speaking, going to school, making friends, and I’ll try to remember how it felt when she was just a toddler, to no avail.

You will never have another chance to enjoy the current version of the people you love. There is no tomorrow. All that you are always going to have is here and now.