{"id":681,"date":"2009-12-10T11:59:50","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T15:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=681"},"modified":"2009-12-10T11:59:50","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T15:59:50","slug":"oh-what-a-beautiful-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=681","title":{"rendered":"Oh, What a Beautiful Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me the other day how my day was going.\u00c2\u00a0 Their question reminded me of my friend, Chris.\u00c2\u00a0 His wife, Barbara, told me when he was battling cancer for a second time that he would always respond \u00e2\u20ac\u0153any day I am six feet above the ground is a good day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I chuckled. He always knew how to put things in perspective. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As I thought of that this morning again, I was reminded that, indeed, that could be a true statement for all of us – regardless of the situations we find ourselves in from time to time. \u00c2\u00a0 I mean, after all, we have ups and downs on our path through life.\u00c2\u00a0 These times can consume us and make life a little uncomfortable. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought to myself – how is my day going today? \u00c2\u00a0 I am waiting for another bone marrow biopsy, have a full blown case of leukemia, just found out I have fibroid tumors that need attention, and a few other things that will go unmentioned. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I could mope and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153poor me\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as I deal with this.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, who wants these kind of inconveniences in their lives when they still have lots of living to do?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider for a moment that we COULD actually consider these challenges as a gift of sorts. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

We all know we are dying in some form or fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 Our bodies start out like a new car – but even they eventually wear out and need to be replaced whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good ole basic Ford truck or a BMW roadster. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim McGraw sings the country song \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Live Like You Were Dying.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t heard that song, google it and read what the words are.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all too true that many of us don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think or even want to think about death and dying. However, Tim takes it as an opportunity to live a little harder and rethink his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bucket list\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of things he wants to do before he dies in that song. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I started a list like that long ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided back then not to wait till I retired but to do as many of them as I could before I retired.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the things have changes recently – no more skydiving dreams for me.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, my son just did that Sunday so I will live vicariously through him on that one. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My list is changing daily. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing for sure is, that with all the stuff going on with me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still just as beautiful a morning as it was when I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t knowingly sick – I am just much more aware of it now than before. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My wish for you today<\/em><\/strong> is that you find life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenges as a gift to show yourself and others that life does go on, that you have a bucket list that can change with the times, and that you can live like you were dying.\u00c2\u00a0 Others may be inspired by you to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me the other day how my day was going.\u00c2\u00a0 Their question reminded me of my friend, Chris.\u00c2\u00a0 His wife, Barbara, told me when he was battling cancer for a second time that he would always respond \u00e2\u20ac\u0153any day I am six feet above the ground is a good day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I chuckled. He always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37,27,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-illness","category-living-life-to-the-fullest","category-personal-challenges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}