The Circle of Life
The irony of Saturday, April 05, 2008, is that it was this day that I both celebrated the birth of my beautiful God-daughter Mylee and attended the funeral of my close friend Holly.
Holly had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in February of 2007 at the age of 36 and died shortly after her 37th birthday. Holly was one of the most caring and loving people I have ever met. She was fun to be around and I knew each time we got together there would be a lot of laughs, even after she was diagnosed with cancer. She was an example of living life to its fullest even in the face of terminal cancer.
At the other end of the life spectrum is Mylee, the miracle baby. My best friend Heidy had thought that she would not be able to have a child, but God had another plan. In the summer of 2007, I was enjoying the beautiful weather in my back yard when Heidy came by and handed me the pregnancy test she had just taken (she lives across the street and yes when I say best friend we are “here is the stick I just peed on best friends”). I was a part everything that happened after her peeing on the stick including being at the hospital for Mylee’s birth. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on. I know what you are thinking and no I am not biased, OK maybe a little, but she was and still is gorgeous nonetheless!
On his 90th birthday, my grandfather said “life is like the blink of an eye”. How right he was.
We do not know the number of hours, days, weeks, years we have beyond today. Maybe we will live a long healthy life and die sky diving at age 100, or maybe, like Holly, we will be given the devastating news that our life will be coming to an end much earlier than you had planned. The reality is we just don’t know.
So take the time today to enjoy life; don’t look to tomorrow to bring you happiness. Happiness does not come with a new job, a new house, a new car or even a new spouse. Happiness is a choice we make to look at each moment we are given as a blessing and live each of them as if they were our last.
Your life today really is a gift.
In loving memory of Holly Money. I miss you friend!
Happy Birthday Mylee. I love you!
#death #chronicconditions #personalchoice #workingcaregiver #friendship #birth #grief #dying #encouragement #caregiving #cancer #miracles #worklifeflex #boomers