Sometimes you hear the most profound pieces of wisdom, from whom you least expect... and when you least expect to hear it. It is those things - ironically - that I tend to pay attention to most. It's usually not solicited... it's usually random... it's usually from a person who doesn't really know you... which, in my world, makes it that much more powerful.

I was out to dinner the other night with a group of friends - celebrating a birthday. I was sitting beside a man that I know... but not really. I enjoy his wife greatly - which is how I came to know him. He started talking about his relationship with his wife, it's ups and downs... it's evolution... and so on. I was listening intently, not saying a whole lot (not sure if it was because my appletini was that good, or if yours truly was just speechless), taking it all in. Then he moved on to the L.A. Lakers and their performance in the playoffs thus far - which yielded a whole new set of emotions.

The man paused right after he spat some Kobe stats, and said "you know, there is one piece of advice that I hold near and dear to my hear, and it's that you can't rush into forever." Where in the world did that come from? You think Kobe's rushing? He realized, by my expression - that I lost him in his train of thought, and he expressed his apologies for jumping subjects - but he just wanted to make sure he didn't forget to tell me that.

I nearly choked on the cherry in my appletini - that hit home. Hard. He didn't know it at the time - that was probably exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment....

Forever is a long time...