A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, perfectly shaven and hair fashionably combed (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 seen the room; just wait."
"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!
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What an amazing reminder to be grateful. They say an attitude of gratitude goes a long way and I'm a firm believer in this. How can I be upset when I'm grateful? :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous and so true. I will try to remember this as I head on to a new week. Thank you very, very much for this excellent post.
ReplyDeleteAw...what a sweet old man. I love that story!
ReplyDeletePretty amazing story...I'm grateful to you for sharing it. We are so fortunate to have such a positive, upbeat, and supportive community here in the world of blog...and i think it's spilling over a bit more each day into our everyday lives bringing about a wonderful change.
ReplyDeleteOnce again...grateful for your post, blog, and friendship.