Napkin Notes

Today, I listened to such an inspiring, heart warming story, that made me cry tears of both sadness, inspiration and gratitude.

There is a father who has written notes on napkins every day for his daughter, Emma. It’s his beautiful way of connection with her, throughout all of these years. These notes bring her such joy and inspiration, and make her feel blessed and loved. Recently, her father has been diagnosed with cancer that does not react to chemotherapy, so they are just living their lives each day and hoping he has as much time with her as possible. His diagnosis doesn’t look optimistic, but he continues to live in the moment each day. He has written hundreds of napkin notes for his daughter, that will last her through all of the rest of her school years, in case he doesn’t survive.

Here is his story on USA Today.

This story is just so motivating to each of us, as there are so many struggles in life, so many hardships, yet we are faced with life each day. So, we have to try and enjoy each day we are living here on earth. As Rachael Ray said on today’s show, “Optimism is everything. If you are here to live, enjoy it and value it!”

I have to admit that I didn’t always “live in the moment” but after Julian’s passing, it really opened my eyes to the delicacy of life. Mike and I work every day, to remind our children and ourselves, that life is truly a blessing and we should try to live it and enjoy it the best way we can. It’s easy to get caught up in life’s downs, health issues, bad days, traffic, arguments with family or friends etc, and it’s ok to say “this really sucks”, but as long as in the end, we pick ourselves back up and say, “well, it is what it is, so let me make the best of it” and just try to look at the positive, happy things in our life. We have to keep in mind, that we are the drivers of our own happiness. If we allow our unhappy, sad, angry, bitter feelings to take over our life, then we are allowing ourselves to be unhappy. We can make a difference in our own life. It’s in our hands. 

So, tomorrow when you wake up, smile and say Good Morning to your family, friends, co-workers. Whatever life brings you tomorrow, know that at the end of the day, you can choose to push through that, and to be happy.