Let Life Love You Back

"I have found that when you love life, life will love you back." Rubenstein

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My husband had to travel for work for three days. He suggested I invite my son and his girlfriend to stay with me while he was gone, so I wouldn't spend three days alone. I assured him I would be fine. I wasn't fine, though. The first day he left I had a horrible pain day. I didn't put on my big girl pants and have a good attitude either - I pouted my way through the day feeling sorry for myself. The next day the kids offered to come over so I accepted. I needed some help in the happiness department. Having the kids' positive energy in the house was wonderful. I felt a change in my energy as well. I felt happier, more positive.

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We went to see the movie Shazam at a theater with those great reclining seats, we had some good food, and we stopped at Target and I got a cool new electric toothbrush. They hung out and spent the night. Life was loving me back. Sometimes we all need a resiliency jump-start. Friends and family can be great for that! If you want to love life and have life love you back, use all the tools in the tool box. Sometimes that means asking for help, and that's o.k.

Heal Yourself

"You need to learn how to heal yourself or you will spend your life bleeding on people who didn't cut you." - unknown author

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There are so many times I'm alone with my pain when I want someone to be with me, to heal me, to change my life. It isn't until I stop and tell myself that I can start change by myself that things start to get better for me.

Positive Future Expectation

Today was a day for pain en masse at my house. I was having a pain flair that was kicking me in the pants. I wanted to scream from the rooftops "this hurts so bad!!" I was looking forward to some company and ready to unload my terrible day when my husband walked in with a terrible scowl. "Tough day, Dear?" His answer, "The worst." Before I could find out why, my son walked in looking like he had been dragged in by the dogs. He was sick with a cold, so he flopped on the couch in pain. It was a house of pain. It felt like the house wanted to scream out, not just me.

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At times like these the only thing left to do is breathe and have a positive expectation for the future. There were many good times in this house; there was happiness en masse! There was good in the past and there will be good again. I've lived in this house for 27 years, and if asked, I would say it is a home filled with love and laughter, happiness and hope. Yet homes, like people, suffer times of pain.

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Sometimes the best response to difficult times is just to wait it out and know the happiness will come again.

Boys' First Day of School, One of Many Happy Days