Each day is a gift..

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully
dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed
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, I provided a visual
description 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.”

She went on to explain, “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 Thank you for your part in
filling my Memory bank.
I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said:
“Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.”