Celebrating Life

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. We spent it in Rushford, NY celebrating what would have been my cousin's 37th birthday. Most of us (some had to work or had prior commitments) all got together, found a spot overlooking Rushford lake, and we released balloons in honor of her birthday. We laughed, we cried and we celebrated. The weather was amazing! We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate her! She was such a beautiful soul with an amazing spirit, always living every moment of life to the fullest.

 The last time we saw each other was for another cousin's wedding. The time before that, Christmas. We really seemed to connect at that time, as she sat at our table for dinner. I enjoyed her company and her presence. She made us feel like kids again. We talked and laughed. We promised each other we would get together for lunch when she comes to town. We won't get to do that now. But I am forever grateful for the time we did get to spend together at Christmas and at the wedding. I can't sit here and dwell on the moments we won't have together, but rather cherish the moments we did have. 

Life is never a guarantee. We don't know when our time here is up. So we must always live life to the fullest and remember to always embrace the positivity.

Finding the Positivity

                                                   GOOD SUNDAY MORNING!!

It is a beautiful, cool morning here in WNY today! For the first time in my life, this morning, I sat up in bed, touched my feet to the floor and I just said "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."  I took in a deep breath and got up to start getting ready for the day.

Life is about living and trying to stay in a positive state of mind. I am learning that more and more. I know there may be times when that is difficult. We all have those moments. I find that, for myself personally, I have a tendency to be aware of all the bad things that may be going on around me, whether it be something locally, somewhere around the world, or to me personally. But I have learned that we need to find the positives in our day. I think when bad things are happening, we try to snuff it out, bury it down. When we do that, we tend to forget about the good that's happening, because I think we try to bury down all of it, and the good gets buried too. 

A few months ago, over the summer, before my cousin died, I was in a waiting area of a physical therapy center waiting for someone. A patient comes in and sits down next to me to wait. She was a stroke patient, and I have come to know her over time. I know what she has struggled with and what her current struggles are. She is able to walk, with the assistance of a cane, but she has no use of her left arm. I know that this has been hard for her because she so desperately wants to be back to normal. 

So as she sat down next to me, I gave her a smile and asked how she was doing. She sighed and said "Oh, ok. How are you?" I could tell she was disgruntled, but I smiled back at her and I said very happily "I am pretty good. I can't complain. Any day I wake up and am blessed with a new day, it's a good day." She just looked at me and said "Ugh, why bother."                                                           Sadly, it kind of reminded me of Eeyore. I felt bad for her, but yet at the same time, I thought a negative attitude and energy isn't really good for anyone. While I had the private thoughts to myself, I realize now that maybe I should have said them to her. She really had accomplished so much after her stroke and that's what she needed to look at. Focus on the positives!!

I take time to focus on my blessings every day. I am thankful to be given another day. I am thankful and so very blessed to have my children. I am fortunate enough to have an amazing Mom and Dad and wonderful family and friends. Life might not be perfect, but I am happy to have my life. I hope you take the time to do that for yourself too. If things get rough, just stop, breathe and take a few minutes to just think about the good things that are going on too. Don't let the good things get buried so far that all you can focus on is the bad. 

Thanks for reading. Take time today to cherish the moments, and always remember to embrace the positivity.

Embrace Life

Life – we all live it. The way we choose to live our lives is ultimately our choice. Some people are more fortunate than others. Some are not quite as fortunate. While some choose to live modestly, there are those that choose to live more extravagantly. However, being rich or poor monetarily isn’t what’s important. I think what truly matters is having good health, and having family and good friends that love and support you, no matter what. It’s also about the quality of life you live, being a hard worker to achieve that quality, yet to love life and enjoy it to the fullest.

On August 6th, 2015, I lost one of my seven cousin's. She was in Australia vacationing with her brother. They went to go on a scuba dive with a tourist group. They were with instructors. They were down in the water for about 8 minutes, at 20 ft below when my cousin signaled to her brother there was a problem. They quickly surfaced and had her on the boat very quickly. By that point, she had lost consciousness. There were two doctors present and they immediately began performing CPR. A team of eight people were taking turns working on her for 90 minutes. By the time the rescue personnel got there, they pronounced her dead.

My cousin lived her life to the fullest. There is no doubt about that. She touched so many lives, literally across the world and back. She worked, she traveled and she played. She had so many hobbies and things that she was in to. She saw so many places in the world that most of us only dream about.

For the last couple of years, I have been struggling with some issues in my life. For the last month and a half, I have struggled with losing her. I am the oldest of eight cousins. You never think that someone younger than you will cross over before you. So her death has really rocked my world. Her death has put many things into perspective for me.

For the last year or so, I have been on a personal journey myself. I have been reading some self-help books, I swear, at (almost) 43, I think I started going through a midlife crisis about 2 years ago. I pulled away from friends in my life and started focusing more on my family. I started trying to find myself and who I was. Then as I said, when my cousin died, life was put into perspective even more.

I have been trying more and more to not dwell on the negativity, but rather the positivity. I have been trying to be more mindful of myself and the moments I am in. I have been experimenting with some simple meditation techniques. Anything that I thought would just help release the negative energy and stresses I have been feeling so much of.

So this morning as I was sitting on my porch with an exceptionally delicious cup of coffee, I found myself breathing in the fresh air, fully and completely (probably for the first time in my life) taking in the moment. Being mindful and present and all of a sudden my cousin popped into my head....thoughts of her and her life and how she lived, never taking a single moment for granted. She embraced life. She cherished it.

As I sat there thinking about her, the idea for this blog was born. I am hoping that it will have a positive impact in my life as well as others that maybe struggling with some negativity in their lives or that just may be going through a difficult time and need some inspiration or some positive energy.

Thank you for reading. Cherish the moment and remember to embrace the positivity!