Earlier this week my wife and I celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary – with a stay vacation all week! Yep, a whole week off work with no wasted time traveling, crowds or traffic, seedy motel rooms, or bad food. Our town is already like a vacation destination and has tons of great food establishments. Plus, our house is very cozy and just right for hanging out. We are close by to parks, trails, and a short walk to downtown.

A definite highlight of our week was our “penny spa” on Saturday, thanks to our nine year old daughter. I don’t know how or why she came up with this idea, but she warned us a few days beforehand that she was going to do a spa on Saturday for us. Then, the night before as we were tucking her into bed she said, “just twelve more hours until your spa!”

Saturday morning she had everything ready to go; soothing “rain forest” music from the internet, a gooey rub-on mask for facials (smelled like glue!), cucumbers for our eyes, treats (from a paper menu), foot massages, back massages with karate chops, neck massages, hair brushing, and our favorite magazines. My wife got forty-five minutes worth and me, a half hour. I told our daughter that I would tip her and she asked, “why?” She only wanted a penny. Pretty sweet, huh! We’re living the good life for sure.

At lunch time it only seemed fitting that we take her to our favorite gourmet pizza place. Then we went to our favorite French pastry shop. We topped it off with some impromptu shopping and found some bargain deals on a few of her favorite toys.

It was one of those “smelling the roses” kind of days that don’t come around often enough and, when they do, go by all too quickly. Come to think of it, the entire week went by way too fast! That seems to be life these days – weeks, months, and even years slipping by faster and faster. But so glad we got this sweet moment!  In fact, a mystery is this: If we were immortal with nothing but endless time, we might long for it to be limited for a while so that we might better savor the moment. Penny spa is that wish come true.

The majority of the world’s best thinkers, leaders, servers, fighters, and artists throughout history are mostly forgotten. Yes there are ruins, writings, and now the internet as if to reach eternity. But there is no vast remembrance of innumerous real greats from ages gone by. Still, the effect of so many of them continues, showing that our magnificent efforts in life are not just about our one short blip in time. Let’s make it count beyond us.