This morning I woke up around 6:00 and Guinness jumped in the bed and gave me the best cuddle ever. He had surgery 17 days ago, and while his healing is going well, he is still recovering. Today he was more himself than ever and looked at me with “I’m back, rub my belly” eyes.

This was his birthday gift to me. I am 45 today and I’ve been thinking about time and how we always want more of it. We want extra hours in the day, days in the week, and are always on the search for better ways to get more things done.

We act as if what we want most is more time to get more done, but I don’t think that’s what we really want. We want more love. We want time for love.

We all define middle age differently, but for me it’s always been 45, smack in the middle of the beginning and the end, and everything after that is a bonus. Recently though, I’ve redefined middle age, and all ages, knowing that everything after this moment is a bonus.

It’s a bonus and a blessing and I’m not going to waste a minute of it doing things that don’t honor that.

Today’s mini-mission invites you to make love. Unlike the one kind of making love that you might be thinking about, you can do this with anyone, anytime, and tell everyone about it.

• Leave work early and surprise your lover with a romantic dinner or picnic lunch.

• Pull your kids out of school or camp and take them away for an overnight camping trip or day at the amusement park.

• Take your dog to the park with treats and water and a big blanket.

• Call your best friend or schedule a skype date.

• Buy someone lunch who can’t buy it for themselves.

• Drop by a local retirement home and visit someone who doesn’t get visitors.

• Hold hands.

• Send a care package.

• Smile and say hello.

• Say thank you.

If you do this, you’ll feel the quality of love that beats any extra quantity of time.

When you miss your kids while you are at work, you don’t want time, you want love. When you wish you lived closer to your family, you don’t want time, you want love. When you see someone struggling and you want to ease their pain, you don’t want time, you want love. Make it.

I’m keeping this short today because my husband took the day off to celebrate my birthday so I need to go make love with him. This post is short. This life is short. Go make love.

For more experiments to simplify your life, read Mini-missions for Simplicity. It’s available on the Amazon Kindle store, but you don’t need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can also be read using the Free Kindle Reader App for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android.