Life

OK. It sounds cheesy and quaint, I know. We're all grateful for "life" aren't we? From my personal experience, I was always glad to be here, but it wasn't until my existence was threatened that I became grateful for life. Not just grateful for my life, but grateful for everyone's life, and grateful for the concept of "life" in general.

I'm grateful for the birthdays that come with life! Bring on those numbers and let them climb higher! I don't want to stop at 52. They say "aging's not for sissies." Neither is cancer. If I can live with the beast (what melanoma is "lovingly" called) then I can surely live with getting older. I've got a bunch of wisdom to pass on to somebody and I'm sure to gain more as I move through life...hate to have all that life-experience go to waste.

Hmmmmmm, wise words to share for all posterity:

Dead ain't sexy! Love the skin you're in. Take care of it! Check every inch of it thoroughly every month and get any changes checked out pronto! Don't cook it, baste it, broil it or oil it. Love it. Be good to it and it will be good to you...most likely. Abuse it and it's sure to bite you. Ahem! "Melanoma" is a highly exclusive club and we members do NOT want you joining our ranks, thank you very much. When you see something about melanoma awareness, do NOT roll your eyes and look away! Pay attention and learn something and then apply it to your life and the lives in your family. If you think it can't happen to you, you're dead wrong. So please, be "wrong" and not "dead." Pay attention. We all thought it would never happen to "us." Learn our lesson. Is that too much to ask?

Appreciate every birthday you are blessed to have and stop cracking those awful jokes when another one rolls around. Stop wishing life away; it will be gone soon enough. Stop wishing the week away so you can get to the weekend. Stop wishing childhood away so you can be a teenager then so you can turn that magical "21" then so you can get out on your own then so you can....You get the picture. We humans are great at wishing one stage of life away so we can move on to the next and the one after that! They will get here soon enough and all in good time and in God's time.

Maybe. Sometimes life doesn't work out according to our plans. Let's be real: life never works out just like we plan and envision. Dream. Dare to hope. It just doesn't. No matter how "charmed" and "blessed" a person seems to live, sooner or later, something totally unplanned and unfathomable will happen to shake you to your core.

What or Who is at that core of your life? How you answer that will make all the difference in how you live it, how you celebrate it, or how you wish it away.

I had to hit the bottom to see that Core I prayed was there REALLY IS there. And that makes all the difference...

And I am so grateful!