There is so much that we have in life to cherish. Although I lost my father decades ago, I revere the memories of the big breakfasts he would cook for us, Sunday mornings and tight hugs he would hold me in, and my attempts to get out of his hugs although I had no intention to get out of them as I wanted them to last forever. I adore and cherish the times when my kids were younger and they would be full of glee when I cracked silly jokes and laugh endlessly rather than smirk at them. I cherish the early years of the times with my wife when I could do no wrong. I cherish the comic books from my childhood. There is so much to hold dear and cherish. Things end but memories last forever. However, as I get older in a year, I realize that cherishing so many things has brought me a lot of misery. To cherish is to hold onto the past. To cherish is to compare your present to a romanticized version of your past. The present always falls short when compared to the idealized but not the true version of the bygone past, which is a recipe for anguish and pain. The more we are in the habit of cherishing, the more we torment ourselves. However I don’t want to forget my past, neither do I want to torment my present and future. Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards…….