living for the moment

Otto woke up to his phone going off loudly, it was sitting on his beside table charging. His ringtone was "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant, which always put Otto in a good mood. So he woke up in a pretty good mood. Otto reached over, grabbed his phone, disconnected the charger, and read the caller i.d. To his surprise it was Scott Rowe. He was intrigued because Scott usually only calls Otto about once a month to buy drugs, and Scott had just visited Otto only a couple of days ago concerning the matter. Otto answered the phone, "Hey, what's up man? Run out of weed already this time?", he said jokingly. "Oh yeah man, I just blew through an entire ounce single-handedly, its been a wild three days, I've pretty much been high ever since I left your apartment that day", Scott said laughing and obviously joking around as well. " "You know Scott, you're turning into one of my favorite customers.", Otto replied. "Nice dude, because you're definitely one of my favorite dealers", Scott said laughing, "Anyway, I called because I just scored a trip for two at this sick ski resort up in the mountains. The guy I was DJing for last night, didn't have any money so he just paid me by giving me his ski trip reservations, pretty sweet huh? You wanna come with?" "Yeah dude, that's awesome, I'm totally up for a little skiing. I'm surprised you're not bringing a lady friend instead though? What's up with that?", Otto asked. "To be honest with you, I'm just tired of hanging with bitches all the time, I need some bro time.", Scott explained. "Oh alright man, I gotcha. So when do we leave?", Otto said. "I'm about to grab a taxi and I'll be at your place in about 20 to pick you up. Just throw some warm clothes in a bag and you'll be good to go, the guy even rented skis for us.", Scott said enthusiastically. "Alright man, sounds like a plan, I'll see you in a bit.", Otto said and hung up quickly to begin packing.

When they got to the ski resort it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and the snow was thick and fresh and still falling. So they decided to hit the slopes right away. On the ski lift up the mountain, Scott pulled a flask of whisky out of his jacket. “You wanna get a little tipsy before this expedition, you know maybe make it a little more interesting.” “Damn Scott, you really do live for the moment don't you”, Otto said chuckling, “maybe even a little too much, alcohol will screw your liver.” “Yeah, but it makes the present moment awesome and that's what life's all about, or at least that's what it's about for me.”, Scott said. “I like the way you think man, let's have a drink then.” By the time they had reached the top Otto was feeling a little unsteady on his feet and was beginning to wonder if drinking before skiing was such a good idea after all. “Whatever, live for the moment, make the best of it”, Otto reminded himself in his head. “Race to the bottom!”, Scott yelled and took off down the mountain.

Otto was quick to follow but still feeling quite uneasy on his skis. Scott tucked his poles and crouched for maximum speed, and Otto didn't want to loose so he too tucked his poles under his arms and crouched. Otto began gaining on Scott and was building up pretty good speed. As Otto passed Scott, he turned his head back to taught him, taking his eyes off the course ahead. “Haha, suckaahhh”, Otto was saying when all of the sudden. WHAM. He got clotheslined by a low branch going about 50 miles an hour. He felt his ribs crack as he lost his breath immediately. Had he been about a foot to the right, it would have been the entire tree which probably would have killed him.

The pain was dulled by the whisky so Otto was able to stand up slowly and ski gently to the bottom where Scott was waiting for him. “Damn! You got annihilated by that tree so bad!”, Scott said while laughing, “Let's do it again, let's do it again!” “I don't know about that man, I think I have a couple broken ribs, you got anymore of that whiskey?”, Otto said. “Nope, we killed it.”, Scott replied. “Well then I'm definitely done for the day, I'm going back to the lodge.”, Otto said. “Alright, that's cool, I can ski all day by myself, this shit is so much fun! Plus I got a joint that we didn't even smoke yet!”, Scott exclaimed. “Alright, well have fun with that, I'm gonna go lie down and maybe seek some medical attention.” Otto went back to the lodge, wincing in pain. When he got to his room, he lied down and counted his blessings. He began realizing the true importance of living for the moment, because at any moment life can be taken away. And in that moment, lying on the bed, Otto became extremely grateful for simply living.