I Am DETERMINED...to Take in Every Moment!

As previously indicated, I am beginning this New Year...

with Words of Wisdom...which I have gleaned over many years 

and reserved in a file for future reference. In Real Estate, I had a

news letter to clients called “Merle's Pearls”...which were my current listed properties, information about the real estate industry, and a Pearl of Wisdom 

at the end...philosophically beneficial to all .

I was away several days over New Year's...and discovered experiences

from a couple novels and a Calendar which induced me to write 

about this Pearl of Wisdom.

From the novel, Whisper Falls, by Toni Blake:

“With all you went through the past few years...

you never would have reached this moment in time!”

She, Tessa, would not be moving to this song with her friends...

doing “the bump” with Rachel, now; she wouldn't be laughing as she watched 

Sue Ann dancing atop her patio table; she wouldn't have this opportunity 

to realize how dear her friends were to her or to remember all they've been through together over the years.

In this moment, she was experiencing everything that made up what she'd come to think of as “the Ellen Philosophy”...'Laugh, Dance and Think Positive.' 

And she suddenly realized that those simple tenets held all the answers, she'd been seeking all this time.

She'd been searching for ways to get past the limitations her disease (Crone's) had imposed on her; searching for ways NOT to let life pass her by ~ 

in tattoos (the one being a chain of daisies around her ankle); motorcycles; 
sex; the idea of skydiving. And before all that, she'd seen Dr. upon Dr. 
(not to mention holistic healers, herbalists and more). She liked her tattoo 
and she liked Lucky's motorcycle...and God Bless..she loved Lucky!..

It turned out, the Secret to Happiness was much simpler than any of those things.

It was Laughter, Dancing and finding Joy in Life! 

It was learning to expect the best instead of the worst. 

That was all...it really took!

From the novel, Time to Hunt, by Stephen Hunter:

(a war experience from Vietnam)

The sergeant (Bob) wore the M3 grease gun on his back and his hands carried the M40 sniper rifle. It carried a Redfield scope. He had smeared jungle grease paint on his face. He tried to get into his “war face”...to become, in some way...war! 

It was a gift his people had...his father had won the Medal of Honour in the bygone against the Japs (messy business on Imo Jima) then to come home to get the blue ribbon from Harry Truman.

Hard, proud men...true sons of Arkansas...had two gifts: “to shoot and see something die and to work like dogs the long hot humid days.”

What could save you? NOTHING! 

If it was in the cards, by God, it was in the cards!

The fear began to eat at him...as it always did. Some fools said he had no fear; 

he was such a hero! But that only proved how little they knew! 

The fear was like a cold lump of bacon grease in his stomach...hard and wet and slick...that he could taste at all times.

(Fortunately, he lived through three “tours of duty”.

  But in his mind, he knew that each moment might be his last!)

Significantly, upon my return last evening and reading my e-mails

was this...sent by a long-time Bridge Friend:

“A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life,

wrote a blank cheque payable to

The United States of America

for an amount up to and including his life.”

In God We Trust!

.........................................................

The Calendar for 2012, I viewed, was hung above a “work station” .

Each month depicted beautiful scenery.

The caption on the calendar face and on each month, stated

I am DETERMINED

to Take in Every Moment!

Merle Baird-Kerr . . . written January 8, 2012

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