Attitude
Says It All
Submitted
by: HOST
GFS
Susi@aol.com
The
92-year-old, petite, well-poised
and proud mother-in-law of my
best friend, 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.
Maurine
Jones is the most lovely,
gracious, dignified woman that I
have ever had the pleasure of
meeting. While I have never
aspired to attain her depth of
wisdom, I do pray that I will
learn from her vast
experience.
After
many hours of waiting patiently
in the lobby of the nursing home,
she smiled sweetly when told her
room was ready. As she maneuvred
her walker to the elevator, I
provided a visual discription 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... just
wait."
"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.
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 - just for this
time in my life.
Old
age is like a bank account - you
withdraw from what you've put in.
So, my advice to you would be to
deposit a lot of happiness in the
bank account of
memories."
©
2002 GFNEWS, a monthly
publication of the Golden Gate
Genealogy Forum, Inc. of
Franklin, MA.
(America Online Keyword: roots.)
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©
2002 Graphics
By
Carol,
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