We only have one life to live. Live it! Push aside the problems and tell them they can wait, because today is the day that you get in touch with a friend. You are not doing anything for anybody today because it is your 'Me Day.'

Make a list of everything that is wrong in your life and start a program of elimination. Get rid of the extra baggage. Out goes Mr. Wrong! Ciao! Clean out your cluttered closet. Throw out the excesses in your life. You would be surprised how therapeutic it can be to start a new page.

Write another list of everything you have always yearned for. For example, if you have dreamed of traveling to Paris or Rio de Janeiro, start planning it on your 'Me Day.' If money is an object, get a second job, baby sit, go without lunch and pack a sandwich for the office. Keep a journal and write down your thoughts. When you have something to do about participating in your dream, you become a part of it and it becomes more of a reality and less of a fantasy. Mark the days off the calendar for the anticipated event.

Fear prevents us from doing what we secretly want to do. Fear of failure can be a potent deterrent separating us from our goals. Buy some of those self-hypnosis tapes, or talk to a psychologist and work through those fears that discourage you from reaching your dreams. So what if you fall flat on your face? At least you will have had the courage to do what YOU wanted to do, and not what somebody else expected you to do. Take a night course, you might even meet a cute professor.

Last week I had a marriage proposal. I was both shocked and flattered. Shocked, because I am already married and I am not scouting around. Flattered, because it was unexpected. Also, he was never given any encouragement and his feelings are not returned. But I must say, he made my day. I floated on air. When I looked up at the sky, a little Cessna had sky written in smoke, "God loves you." I had to smile to myself while planting my impatiens, and listening to Andre's cd of True Love on Tour d'amour, oh, a sign! Something is about to change in my life.

What is wrong with signs and optimism and hope and romance? Nothing, if it changes your point of view, which can lead to a life change. Opportunities are out there, but you have to be open to them. Go ahead, assume the risk and reach for the sky. You owe it to yourself because this is not a dress rehearsal. This is your only life and YOU are the star!

As for my dream? Before I die I want to dance in Spain la jota, el pasodoble, y el flamenco with a gypsy, with castanets in my hands, and red wine on my lips, and I might even change the color of my hair to black.

For life is a dream within a dream!