In early 2007, Joanne added a “virtual book club” to her blog site. One of the books she reviewed was “If Today Be Sweet” by Thrity Umrigar, an American author. Joanne (and others of us who read it) liked it a lot, and Joanne adopted the phrase for her signature line on several online breast cancer groups in which she participated.
The phrase comes from “The Rubaiyat” by Omar Khayyam.
Ah, fill the Cup--what boots it to repeat
How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:
Unborn Tomorrow and dead Yesterday,
Why fret about them if Today be sweet!
[Quatrain XXXIX]
What wise words from this 11th century mathematician/poet!! Joanne embraced the thought expressed—to enjoy every day without undue worry about yesterday or tomorrow—and she definitely put this concept into practice during the last months of her illness.
In May 2008, shortly after Joanne’s death, I was surprised and moved to receive the following E-mail:
“Dear Eileen. A friend of mine directed me to Joanne’s blog because of a reference she’d made to my novel “If Today Be Sweet”. I was moved to tears after reading it and reading about your daughter’s short but incredibly vital and useful life. It’s a rare person that touches the lives of so many around her. When I read about Joanne’s reference to my novel, it reminded me of why I became a writer in the first place. It was to reach out and communicate with sensitive, passionate readers such as your daughter. I hope you can count this reminder to me as one of the many gifts your daughter has brought to the people around her. Despite the enormity of the loss you have suffered, I end this e-mail with the wish that all your todays be sweet, now and forever.
Warmest regards, Thrity”
The expression is still used in our family and its valuable message is timeless. We should enjoy every day to the maximum—we can’t change our “dead” yesterdays and worrying about our “unborn” tomorrows is not beneficial. Today would have been Joanne’s 59th birthday and it seems an appropriate time to again remind myself (and others) to make every day as “Sweet” as possible.
