Heart disease takes the lives of 1 in 3 women a year, that’s about one woman a minute. This disease is the number one killer of women, not breast cancer as we often believe. My mom had heart disease, which led to a heart attack and triple by-pass surgery. Just recently a friend of mine in her 50’s had a heart attack – in her 50’s and she’s in good shape! Heart Disease is the NUMBER ONE killer
My Valentine to all of you is:
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
– Emily Dickinson –
Please take a minute to check out this American Heart Association link, share it with all the women in your life, and WEAR RED TOMORROW to remind everyone what an amazing job our HEART does when we help it out!
People…. It’s time to get Happy! No more excuses. No more worrying about bombs in North Korea. No more worrying about political parties. No more worrying about not winning that BIG lottery prize. It’s time to get Happy about your “extraordinary, ordinary life”*. It’s time to make a HAPPY JAR!!
My HAPPY JAR
I started my Happy Jar last January 1st and when I was happy or grateful about something, I’d write a small note about it and put it in the jar. I didn’t do it every day, but could have. On the 31st of December this year I read through all the notes and a few surprise notes others had added. It was a beautiful review of what wonderful things had occurred in my life. We all tend to remember only the bad or the sad, but this little habit brought me to remember how “extraordinary, my ordinary life” is!
Here are a few of my notes:
“The trip to visit my sisters and check in on my brother-in-law Tim”
“Spending the weekend in Santa Barbara with the Kinsells”
“The most amazing Birthday EVER”
“Quiet time with my husband doing puzzles and watching football”
From my best friend and Pinochle partner
Your Happy Jar can be anything: a Rubbermaid bowl, a Ziplock bag or an empty chip bag – it doesn’t matter what you use, just that you do it.
It’s quiet, no holiday songs, no ringing bells, just a much needed light rain in Southern California.
I’ve been shopping for Christmas since October, decorating for Christmas since the second week in November, and am overflowing with Christmas joy and glitter. But now that the shopping, wrapping, cards and all the clients are done, I sit here in peace and think…
Why, at this time of the year, is loss, illness, or hunger so magnified? What makes this time of the year so different? When families get together and celebrate holidays at other times of the year, do they feel their losses or illnesses as deeply as they do during this holiday? Are the hungry not hungry “all” yearlong?
I think, maybe the answer is this: Christmas isn’t just a holiday. It’s a time that represents pure love, pure kindness and pure acceptance. A magical time that basically creates a circular ornament of love… we sing, feed the hungry and give meaningful gifts. In turn our hearts are filled with love, which causes us to do it all over and over again!
Circular Ornament of Love
But when someone close to us is ill or their journey has ended, we replace that magic with sadness and loss. The circle is broken and our ornament begins to tarnish and crack.
It’s just about then when we need to remember about the glue that Christmas creates; the glue that was produced so very long ago. The glue that helps us believe that our journey, no matter how sad or painful, does not have to be experienced alone.
God’s
Love is
Unwavering and
Enduring
Another name for that glue, which is why we’re celebrating, is Jesus.
So take your ornament, fill those sadness cracks with a little glue and be grateful for the memories of lost ones, for the time spent with those who are ill and the meals we have in our cupboards. After Christmas, don’t pack that ornament away – hang it up to remind you to keep the circle of Love going!
With Gratitude and Wishes for the Merriest Christmas,
Sheree
P.S. This Blog is dedicated to the memory of KS. So many miss your light.
Why do we wait to tell our family and friends memorable things until AFTER they have left this world, when we could and should tell them BEFORE they leave? When it matters, when it can make them feel good, when they could hear what an incredible impact they have made on the world. If you need an excuse, there’s a perfect time, just a few days away. So here’s my eulogy to my living friend.
Thanksgiving brings up all sorts of feelings for me each year, the obvious ones being thankful for everything and everyone in my life. This year, though, will be different; my brother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer last spring. The doctors gave him a timeline – one year no treatment, two years aggressive treatment. But knowing him, the fighter that he is, I’m not sure “terminal” was the correct word. The latest scans show the spots on his liver are gone and the cancer in his intestine hasn’t grown.
Tim, my Friend
During our talks this year we’ve kidded about how he’d like to review what’s said at his funeral since he supposedly has an expiration date… well that’s what HE thought. So I got to thinking, since he knows I’m not fond of funerals, I’d like to give his eulogy, during this season of Thanks. I’m sure it will be decades before his departure, but I think he needs to hear what I’d say.
This is for Tim, my dear friend.
Tim, I know we’ve spoken and laughed, on how you’d like to review what’s said at your funeral, so here it is…
We were friends before you met my sister. Even then you had an old spirit, a wise one. I drove the tractor while you and Carlton baled the hay and afterwards we’d listen to your dad tell stories in the barn while he milked the cows.
I loved being a part of your marriage to my sister and rejoiced at the births of your three beautiful sons and three precious grandchildren.
Yours and Cindy’s house was always the Kool-Aid house to me. A place where everyone liked to come, have family dinners and hang out. And although you battled Crohn’s disease your whole life and missed out on most of the foods we take for granted, your enjoyment for what you could eat was inspiring.
We’ve shared births, weddings, and deaths but most of all we’ve shared stories. We have laughed till we cried and no one will ever enjoy my martini olives the way you did!
When Jeff couldn’t get home in time, you and Cindy were my lifesavers. She took care of Alex, who was 3 years old and Emma only 4 weeks while you rushed me to the hospital. You made me laugh the whole time which was not easy as I was in the midst of appendicitis.
Seeing your reaction to the Grand Canyon brought tears to my eyes and our trip to the “House on the Rock,” which we confused with Frank Lloyd’s Wright’s Taliesin, will be in the top 5 trips of laughter. This miscalculation is where I learned that you knew the capital of every state.
You are an incredible example to your children and grandchildren because of your faith, your work ethic, your marriage and your belief that the Cubs may one day win the Series – man you were really close in 2015. You have worked with a smile on your face, six days a week for your entire life, to give your family everything you could.
God has given you the greenest thumb of anyone I’ve ever known, as witnessed by your violets and every plant you’ve ever touched. I hope everyone will remember that you were an incredible baseball player, a devout Catholic; you loved old westerns, sweet treat, pheasants, pelicans the Cubs and the Bears.
My dear friend, you have been an incredible husband to my sister. You have made her laugh; you have surprised her, supported her, and loved her through the tough times. You have been her friend, which was the MOST important thing.
So, my beloved friend, enjoy eating and drinking and planting gardens without pain and send a few hitters to the North Side once you’re settled in.
You will be welcomed home as your journey ends here, because you were only on loan to us, showing us how it should be done. Heaven wants you back, dear one, sooner than we would like, sooner than we would like…
All my love, your sister-in-law and friend,
Sheree
With Gratitude and Thanks for the loved ones that surround us this Thanksgiving
I’m wearing Red tomorrow because:
