Keeping Life in Perspective

A Great Life Includes Others

A Great Life Includes Others

Where are you in your life’s journey? Do you have aches and pains, doctors and specialists, trouble with mobility and activities of daily living? Perhaps you’re not there yourself yet but are taking care of someone, perhaps an elderly parent, who is. Either way, it’s easy to get sucked into negative thinking about life’s burdens. Let’s look at it another way.

Two days ago I was the face painter at a store celebration, not too busy so I had time to do some people watching. I saw a mother and child enter the store but they were too far awat for me to see if this was a boy or girl. All I saw was a kid in a black sweatshirt, bright pants, and black boots. When they finally worked their way to the back of the store where I was stationed, I still wasn’t sure if I was looking at a boy or a girl. The earrings and pink pants suggested girl. The sweatshirt and super short hair suggested boy. Hoping not to offend, I opened with a remark about the sweatshirt. It advertised an organization I hadn’t heard of but which suggested in my mind that this child was a cancer patient. As we talked I learned that I was meeting her on her 9th birthday and that, as I suspected, she was in treatment for an incurable brain cancer.

Meeting a young girl with brain cancer has a way of putting those senior aches and pains into sharp perspective. I’ve had the pleasure and the privilege of getting old enough to have aches and pains. I’ve lived long enough to be allowed to care for elderly parents, to take them to their multitude of doctors’ appointments, downsize from their home of over 39 years, see them through their hospice days. As easy as it is to get lost in the tasks of caregiving and aging, as easy as it is to feel over burdened, life is a gift to be treasured. I’ve gotten to celebrate over 50 birthdays, and my parents lived into their eighties. This little girl doesn’t know if she’ll see 10.

Whatever today brings, remember to give thanks for the gift of life. Celebrate the small things, use the good dishes, wear your favorite clothes, and LIVE!

2 comments

  1. Great article and a good reminder. I am as guilty as the next person about complaining about aches and pains and pray that I don’t become one of these people that only talks about the weather and pains they are having, but I will probably slip up on that at times also. Two weeks ago my toe caught on an unmarked “bump” in the carpet at a trade show in the huge Cardinal Stadium in Phoenix. Other people were tripping on these bumps also but I left a legacy there by falling completely fast and hard. Took the hide right off my elbows and knees to the point that the EMTs had to be called. (The next day all these “bumps” were marked with bright yellow covers though, but I digress.) Here two weeks later I am still feeling the whip-lash like effects and sciatic pains in my lower back. It could have been much worse, however, and this article put all my pain in a much less painful light.

    • Marsha Gallagher

      I think most of us slip up from time to time. It’s important to generally be open to what life brings even though sometimes we wish life would treat us differently. At least we can treat ourselves well.

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