An amazing weather day

The past 24 hours have been pretty remarkable weather-wise. In fact, yesterday I saw a first. During our severe thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, we had thunder, lightning, hail that covered the ground, sleet and snow, all at the same time. I'm not sure when the snow started falling in earnest because I went to bed but when I got up this morning, it sure looked a lot more like January than April.

Most of the area schools are closed, except for the college, and most of Hayes County is without power due to the storm. Farther to our south, there was a significant tornado outbreak yesterday afternoon and last night with fatalities reported.

I've also never woken up to a white April 15 before, which just goes to prove that if you live long enough, you'll experience about everything. Blizzard and Winter Weather Warnings continue through this morning.

I've taken a lot of pot- shots over the years at the National Weather Service in Goodland for getting a lot of things wrong but my hat is off to them for predicting this storm pretty accurately and with enough advanced warning that people could plan accordingly.

This is one of the many reasons why I love Nebraska. Anything can and probably will happen when it comes to the weather and I find that exciting. I could never live someplace that doesn't have a change in seasons. In addition to providing exciting weather, it is also an affirmation and a testament to life in general. Spring translates to birth and childhood, Summer to our most productive work years, Fall to middle age and Winter to the twilight years of our lives.

It also reminds us of the temporary nature of life and our need to get things done when we can. We get into such ruts of behavior that we're continually postponing doing the things we really want to do and then we wake up one morning and it's too late. My list of things to do is still long and I know that some of them will never get done and that's a sad realization to face.

My golf playing partner, Jim Lemon, and I talk every summer while we're playing our rounds about going to other golf courses, both in-state and out of state, to experience the uniqueness only a golf course can offer but, so far, we've only gone to one. We have the time and the money to go, but we get stuck in the rut I was talking about earlier and just don't do it. Maybe this summer we will.

I promised myself early in my life that when I laid down to take my last breath, I wanted to face death with the knowledge that I had done everything I could do to enjoy and experience life and all it has to offer. I wanted to take chances, live on the edge, and do things that others were afraid to do. I've done that to some extent but there's still a lot of things I need to do to fulfill the promise I made to myself a long time ago.

This overnight snowstorm in the middle of April has made me remember that promise and has encouraged me to not waste a minute of my life doing things that don't make me happy and excited.

Maybe you should do the same.