Hello Dear Friends of

Ano-Hou (answer to a prayer) Life Enhancement!

The month of May has always been a ‘big celebration’ month in our home.

My dear Father had a POW! ‘hit to the left’ (my birthday)
BLAM! a hit to the right! (My Sister’s birthday) and
KABOOOOM! The Trifecta Knockout, ‘Mother’s Day’ quickly following all within a week of each other!

Spirited chorus’s of ‘Happy Birthday’ & ‘Stolat’ (may you live 100 years) crescendoed throughout the week, as mouth-watering torte after torte, exotic-scented bouquet after bouquet and brightly wrapped, ribbon festooned gift packages were presented.

It was a bonanza of a week that at some point was affectionately dubbed, ‘Queen’s Week.’

O.k., it might have been me who dubbed it that.
From birthdays to Full Moons, I am big on ‘ceremony’!

Last year, right in the middle of Queen’s Week, in fact, on my Sister’s birthday, May 7th, sitting in a doctor’s office, my Mother received her diagnosis of ‘Multiple Myeloma’… She was flat out told that day, that there was ‘no cure’ for her rare cancer but that chemo could possibly prolong her life. This imbecilic doctor, who apparently doesn’t believe in ‘bedside manner’, the power of prayer or even GOD, further gave her the ‘time limit’ that she had left to live ‘if she were lucky’ and did the chemo protocol as per his instructions. He even went so far as to huffily spew out to my Mother, “Well, c’mon Mrs. Donovan, you’re in your late 70’s now, just how LONG do you want to keep living anyway?????

For those of you who read the ‘updates on Halina’ every week, you know that amongst the subsequent massive heart attack, Quadruple By Pass Surgery, intense nausea, chemo therapy and other treatments, physical pain and drastic weight loss, she has been battling depression, and what I call, ‘What’s It All About Alfie’ Syndrome… Which I believe is the hardest to deal with of them all..It is almost impossible to make sense out of a ’senseless’ tragedy when you are looking into the eyes of a frightened Loved One.

There have been alot more ‘Celebrations’ in our family since that diagnosis… From the ‘biggies’ of surviving the massive heart attack, invasive surgery, to being able to hold down a bowl of pourridge in her tummy and hold onto a pound… If there is one thing that *teaches* you to Celebrate the moments of your life, it’s the fact of never being sure which day will be your last one here…
And NOBODY knows when that day will come for them.

For those of you who have been through tragedy in your lives, you know of what I speak…
For those of you who haven’t as yet learned the preciousness of the Gift you have been given, and especially for those who learned and have since forgotten, take it from me, and from those who share with you, with the knowledge that only comes from the battle scars of having lived through the fight, or stood on the front lines with a Beloved One while they did, and *remember* this…
*Every Day*

Wake up and let the very first thought that enters your head be, ‘I am deeply Grateful for my Life.’

If you think you cannot think of anything, start off with being grateful for waking up! Not to mention, being able to BREATHE, and WALK, and HEAR, and SEE… that might get you rollin’

Then go ahead and live that day, like you mean it…

Celebrate your life!

Find *some thing* in the course of your day to stop and take notice of, and give thanks for the opportunity of enjoying whatever it is…

Why?

Because a funny thing happens to you, when you are grateful for what you have… You are gifted with more…

Is it a beautiful day?
Did you see a most ‘perfect’ flower or sunset?
Did you enjoy a most delicious cup of coffee or a fine wine?
Did you finally get the heating bill paid? Change that leaky faucet?
Did some complete stranger smile at you today? Smile back!!
(o.k but not to the one’s who are looking at you as though they are trying to figure out if you would fit in their freezer)

Tell *everyone* you love, ‘I Love You.’
Don’t be surprised when someone says it to you!

My Father often told my Mother’s toy poodle ‘Myszka’, “I Love You,” and Myszka would promptly respond with “I Love You,” right back to him!

I know, if I didn’t see/hear it with my own eyes & ears I wouldn’t have believed it either…

I’ve been trying to get my Great Dane, Onyx to say, ‘I Love You Mamma’ ever since… The best I’ve gotten is an air burp back in my face… and yes… I’ve CELEBRATED THAT TOO! ) At least he makes an effort!!!

Because you simply cannot, NOT Celebrate life!

It’s just tooo precious a gift to let all the moments spill away into oblivion… unnoticed…

We are here TODAY…

You never know, it might be all we get…

Challenge yourself!

How many things can YOU celebrate this week?

CELEBRATION!

Brightest Blissings!

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone, and Hug a Mom Today!

Rev. Aileen W. Donovan CHt. RM/T.