Chapter Two

SAYING GOOD-BYE TO WINTER...
and the "blues"

To say it was a hard winter would be an understatement. In mid December I had major surgery. It was unexpected and put me in bed for eight weeks on heavy pain medication.  For the first two weeks I wasn't able to go up or down the stairs. On week three when I descended to make myself a piece of toast my doctor's surgical nurse had a "fit" and ordered me back to bed.  Its been almost four months and I am back to work but my energy isn't 100% and probably won't be for a year.   Sigh....

The physical part was hard but so was the emotional. I have been nursing a case of the "blues" off and on for quite a while.  Yesterday I read this...

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair done and makeup applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room ...”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. 

 I realized my mind could probably use a little "re-arranging" 



The anecdote for sadness... GRATITUDE!

Good advise... I'm taking it.