I am the third of four children and the only daughter. I grew up, married, and then gave birth to three daughters. As such, I redefine irony on a daily basis.
I spent quite a lot of time with my brothers and extended family over the last three days, brought together for a funeral of the cousin who died rather suddenly. Before he died last week I had been going through a 'down' time as in lack of energy, a shortage of motivation and a shortfall of direction. My new running shoes were sitting by the treadmill awaiting the first run. On the day my cousin died I was raking leaves and my husband was putting up the Christmas lights. It was two days after Thanksgiving. One year before, to the day, we celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary during which the entire family was present, my cousin included. After pictures were taken at this joyous event, I made the comment that the next time we came together would probably be for a funeral. How prophetic and a little eerie to boot. When I made that comment he was not on the mental list of candidates.
I read somewhere that one should have a personal motto, such as Be Present. Most of the time I am present but I am too enthralled with what the future can bring for those words to be my motto. Sometime during the last week while on the roller coaster of emotion I discovered mine. Make The Effort. (In my case it means- Don't Be Lazy). I'll let you know how it works out.
