THE DECISION TO BE THANKFUL EVERY MORNING
The 92 year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly 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, her daughter provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet curtains 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.
"Mom, you haven't seen the room—just wait." She replied, "That doesn't have anything to do with it. 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."
She continued. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can
spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away."
Aging is like a bank account. You withdraw from it, what you've put in it. Deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories and you'll be wealthy all the years of your
life.
