Saturday, October 11, 2014

In My Life





Bette Midler, with Jake Shimabukuro on the ukelele, singing "In My Life."  Just beautiful.

UPDATE:  Ella gained her angel wings a little before noon today.  Much love to her whole family.

Little Ella, the four-year-old girl I mentioned in a prior post, is losing her fight.  Please continue to keep her family in your thoughts and prayers as they struggle to say goodbye.   Someone asked me via email how they can help, so here's the answer:  The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with medical and other expenses.

Let this be a reminder to hold your loved ones tight, for they are precious and fragile and our lives are fleeting.  Seize the day today, live with passion and purpose and all the courage you can muster, for you never know when your candle may be blown out.

These are lessons that I learned a while ago from Amy, but it is worth a reminder again of how important it is to live, every single day, with everything you have to give.

Let's start from where we left off:

1) Never go to bed without your spouse knowing how much you love them. Losing Amy was really hard, but knowing that her husband had no doubt in his mind about how solid their love was? Made it ever so slightly easier.

2) Who cares what size you wear, when everyone is really looking at how amazing your heart and mind are.

3) On a trying day, when everything is getting on everyone's nerves? Patience is always the right answer.   I need to work on that one.  A lot.

4) When all else fails? Try laughing out loud. It makes everything better somehow.

5) Then laugh again. Because it will make everything better for everyone else, too.

6) It helps if you find the humor in things. Because frustration is not nearly as fun as humor can be.

7) Nothing is permanent. So you have to enjoy the heck out of life while you can, every chance you get.

8) Fear holds you back from that.

9) Make certain that your children never, ever doubt for a moment how much you love them. Amy's kids know how much their mother loved them -- she showed them her love every single day, in the little sacrifices she made on their behalf, in the hugs and pats she gave them every day, in the steady, loving support she gave them when they failed and when they succeeded -- she loved them all the same, and it was a lot. Those kids can now hold that love securely in their hearts as they move forward, and it is an enormous comfort.

10) Love really is the answer to almost everything life throws in your path. Cherish it.

11) Go out and have an adventure. And enjoy the heck out of it.

12) And don't wait until someday to do it, either.

13) If you are still waiting for "someday," make it begin today.

14) Take good care of yourself.  You deserve it, and you'll help everyone else around you if you are happier and healthier in your own self.  This is a tough one, especially for those of us who tend to put the needs of others before our own, but it is vital:  put on your own oxygen mask first, so you can continue to help the ones you love.  If my recent breast cancer scare taught me nothing else, this is an important one to re-emphasize for all our sakes.  We women can be horrible about this, and we need to take better care of ourselves for our own sake as well as all of our families.

15)  Tell the people you love how much you care whenever you think about doing so.  Don't wait.  Don't get to it later.  Do it now.  Because you never know what is around the corner.

16)  Cherish those moments that you get together.  The quiet time helping your child with homework, the laugh with your husband over something silly, all those little things add up to some really important moments that are worth savoring -- then and there -- so that they are not missed.

17)  Dance.  Sing.  Laugh.  Play.  As often as you possibly can.  Life is too short to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders all the time.

18)  If you can't find someone to dance along with you?  Dance anyway.  Dance the heck out of life, to your own beat, and when you find the path that makes you happiest?  Take it for all it is worth.

19)  Don't wait.

20)  That dream you've been nursing along in your secret heart?  The one you won't even admit to yourself is there, but it always has been, just waiting for you to take the leap of faith and go for it?  Seize the day.  (Right now, Mr. ReddHedd is hoping I'll take my own advice.)

21)  Most of all, learn to love yourself.  Really love yourself, warts and cellulite and whatever else makes you grimace and all.  That's a tough one for a lot of us, but imagine how much more fun we'd all be having if we got out of our own way, stopped worrying about the superficial crap, and just enjoyed life to the fullest.

22)  Live.  NOW.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Can't imagine enduring that kind of a tragedy. Condolences to Ella's family.