A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed 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, the nurse 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 seen the room; just wait.” said the nurse.
‘”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. 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.”
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!
I am still depositing. Many of my deposits get posted on this blog…you know, because they are not always safe in my head!
Today’s deposit:
Aislynn came home today from Kindergarten with an extra pep in her step. She was all smiles and full of added energy. I asked her how her day was, and she said it wasn’t just good, it was great! And I asked well, what made it so great?
And she showed me this.
Her explanation went like this: A boy in my class I forget his name but he is my friend came up to me and said here, Aislynn, I got this for you, and so I said thank you and I put it on and he smiled at me, and he didn’t give one to anyone else except me, I don’t think. Just me. (she came up for air at this point) Mommy, when I take it off at night can you keep it in your jewelry box for me until the morning so that I won’t lose it? I don’t want to lose it.”
So anyway, how cute is that??!! A boy in her class gave her a heart necklace. So sweet.
Now, the mom part of me wonders what’s going on right about now in that little boy’s house? is anyone asking him, “Well, what did she say when you gave it to her?” I’m wondering if his mom helped him pick the heart out? or if she even knows that her little boy is a regular Casanova and is giving girls jewelry? Did this little boy confess to his mother that he “likes” my Aislynn and maybe the mom suggested to give her something nice? or did an older brother coach the kid on what he should do? is anyone in that boy’s family aware that he loves my daughter?
I remember when I was in Kindergarten I got a “love note” from a fellow classmate. During recess, the note was shoved into my hand by this boy, and he quickly ran away, obviously embarrassed. I opened the note and could not read the words on it. So I gave it to Marcus, the only kid in class who could read at the time.
Dear Katrina.
I love you, and I will kiss you, too.
Love, Craig.
Love, Craig.
Simple, but yet to the point. He loved me, and he was going to kiss me. Funny stuff. I wish now that I had saved that little note, but you know, I wasn’t a scrapbooker back then.
That particular memory has been stored safely in my head for the past 36 years. The song “Loves Me Like a Rock” by Paul Simon was popular on the radio, and I remember that time so well. And the words to that note are exact to the letter — I must have read it about 200 times that year. It made me feel special. Actually, nothing became of that little Kindergarten romance. He never kissed me, much to my relief, and just became a regular friend that I sometimes played with on the playground. But the sentiment of the note itself stuck with me and just gave me an added pep in my step during my Kindergarten year.
I hope this little necklace does the same for Aislynn! It’s quite a nice feeling to know that you are special and admired by someone!
That is beyond sweet! Makes our days when our kids light up like that!