Los Angeles | I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,
we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Victor Frankl, 1905-1997
Austrian Neurologist and Psychiatrist

I am constantly amazed at the fortitude of my fellow bloggers. When I read of the hardships and abuse many have suffered and overcome, I wonder at my luck of having been born into a loving and caring family and then having the good fortune to meet and marry my ‘Dashing-Young-Scotsman’ at an early age.

I tell people that I have lived a blessed life. If you have read any of my earlier posts, you will see that I had a long and mostly happy life with my DYS; I have two children whom I love and whose support I can rely on and appreciate.

My family is rounded out by four strapping young grandsons all of whom seem pleased to see their Granma and offers of help are often forthcoming.

Of course, no life is perfect. I left my family in the UK to follow my husband in his move up the corporate ladder which entailed us moving around the world. My children therefore, missed out on the companionship of cousins that I had when growing up. And they saw their grandparents on rare (bi annual) visits home. So they were very much part of a nuclear family – the four of us in a world far removed from home.

I am also very lucky to have two sisters, one in London and one in Los Angeles. Could we have landed any further apart even had we planned it? While they are not within easy visiting distance we still are in regular contact by phone and now of course, the internet. Aren’t we lucky to live in this technological age.

Mother with her three daughters

There have of course been bad times in this long life of mine. We lived in Montreal for a couple of years and I absolutely loathed it. The French Separatists were very active and almost daily we heard of their actions against the English speaking population. My children’s school was bombed and that coupled with the police going on strike, made the decision for us to leave and return to our adopted home, New Zealand.

This time we knew that it would be a permanent move and that family and friends in the Northern Hemisphere would see us only a rare trips home; but we made the decision in the knowledge that this was where we wanted to raise our children – on the beach in Takapuna, Auckland. After a year my husband was transferred to Wellington, the capital city, but that’s another story.

I wrote about a time when I was in danger of losing my leg and a black day when I wanted to Stop the World, but my blackest day was 14 years ago when my Not So DYS died and the colour went out of my world for some time. But living and moving on doesn’t come with a choice and so I am in the next phase of my life and most of the colour has returned.

So daily I give thanks for my life and know that I wouldn’t swap it for anyone else’s. Oh yes of course, there are parts I would gladly change. Those that are shared in this post and others but mostly I say thanks to god, the Universe or whatever power is above us for giving me this life.

And above all I thank my fellow bloggers for being so open about their lives, in all the ups and downs and for sharing with us how they have overcome. In reading about their problems I have come to realise just how lucky I am. This is their gift to me. Thank you thank you!

As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily.
The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.
Terri Guillemets, U.S. quotation anthologist, 1973 –

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