She is 92 years old, petite, well poised, and proud. She is
fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed,
and her makeup perfectly applied, in spite of the fact she is legally blind.
Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed
away, making this move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the
nursing home, where I am employed, 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 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. "Mrs. Jones,
you haven't seen the room....just wait," I said. Then she spoke these
words that I will never forget:
"That does not have anything to do with it," she
gently replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time."
Whether I like the room or not, does not depend on how the
furniture is arranged. It is how I arrange my mind. I have already decided to
love it. It is 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 I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones
that do work.
Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will
focus on the new day and all of the happy memories I have stored away.
It is a new week. Choose to be happy.
Source: The
lighthouse
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