My motto is “Never save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.” Live it. Enjoy it. Don’t keep one eye on yesterday and the other eye on tomorrow — or you’ll spend today cockeyed. Which is how I spent my birthday this year.

My birthday dawned unusually warm for autumn, and we were out in the field at the very crest of daylight. There was a rippling undercurrent of excitement in everyone — for today we were heading to the coast for a weekend of ATV riding.

As we picked and loaded bins of winter squash and pumpkins, I silently berated myself for all the things I should have gotten done earlier: getting feed for the chickens and ducks, picking the tomatoes, and loading the four-wheelers. At the same time, I kept thinking about all the things tomorrow would bring: school in the pickup with the kids meant glass markers for math, and downloading a new audio book or two, and the food we’ll make along the way, and ….

Yesterday and tomorrow — makes one cockeyed, which is not the best way to catch flying pumpkins. After a couple to the stomach, I had to snap out of it and get back to keeping my eyes in the present… and enjoying the bright bins of fall produce.

We jumped through the day like hot grease on a griddle — and it was well after dark before we pulled out of our driveway towards vacation.

How you handle life depends a lot on how you handle Plan B, or C, or whichever contingency plan you’re currently living through.

We’d planned to get at least past Portland before we stopped for the night. But in less than two hours, the fatigue of harvest hit us with Plan B, a small pullout along the freeway.

Plan C occurred when one of the tires on the trailer made friends with a nail during the night, which necessitated a morning stop at Les Schwab. We made it a morning breakfast adventure, where we enjoyed snacks and finished up a book we were reading and played a game of charades.

On my wall at home, I have written the words “Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” Even when the journey has flat tires.

Life is challenge. If you don’t have fun and smile, goof around as much as you can, it will quickly bog you down. I may not always succeed, but I try hard to live my life so that my boys can see how fun can be found even in the potholes. Flowers often grow out next to cowpies.

We have to make the most out of each minute, because time continues to pass every day, with or without our consent — I mean, here I am celebrating another birthday, and I don’t remember agreeing to pass by the age of 32!

We finally arrived at the coast and set up camp. The air was salty and fresh. There wasn’t a cantaloupe or pumpkin field in sight — it was a beautiful moment.

We unloaded our toys and in minutes we were cruising along the dunes, leaving the worries of farming far behind us. Right now, it was playtime. We jumped dunes, rode trails, collected shells, poked crab holes, and gorged ourselves on delicious food. Then we woke up, and did it all again.

We have been riding at the coast for close to 20 years now, and in the glow of the campfire, we reminisced about our favorite trips. It’s funny how firelight always seems to make one nostalgic. Looking at my boys, their faces bathed in the flickering light, it’s crazy to think how quickly time passes — the first year my family came, my husband and I weren’t even married — and now we have two kids who can ride better than us.

Time is the only one of life’s resources I know of, that when it’s all spent, you wish you would have spent it more foolishly. I am proud that my kids know how to work hard and put in long days — but as quickly as they grow up, it reminds me more than ever that spending time wisely includes time engaged in frivolous activities. I once saw a sign that said “The key to enjoying the moment is to always carry a list of ‘Things I Gotta Do That Can Wait.’”

I need to remember that many important things “you gotta do” can wait — because time doesn’t. Your kids grow up, your pets grow old — life is the hyphen between matter and spirit. Just like Doris Lessing said: “Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.”

Don’t wait for that special occasion. Don’t wait till the stars align. If you’re in a sand pit, pretend you’re a kid on a dirt bike and wheelie out. Make the most of every pothole. Find the flowers in the cowpie. This is your life, and you’re spending it one minute at a time.

Make sure the exchange rate is in your favor.