A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.
'"I love it!" he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't been in the room yet; just wait till we're there."
'"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he 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."
He continued, "Each day is a gift, and I choose to focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away just for this time in my life."
From this man, I learned that old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from that account when you need to. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a
lot of happiness in your bank account of memories!
Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing. Here are five simple rules to be
happy in life:
> > 1. Free your heart from hatred.
> > 2. Free your mind from worries.
> > 3 Live simply.
> > 4. Give more.
> > 5. Expect less
Glad you stopped in!!
Come by more often, we're really starting to cut a rug here!
