Celebrating life . . .

Celebrating life is wonderful.

Let me tell you about a woman I work with. The last Friday (5-11) was her birthday. She turned 55. And DID she celebrate. A little information about her is needed for this story to make sense. She is alone in the world -- no husband, no kids. Just a bunch of friends that think alot about her. In the last year or so, she has battled several health problems. She has had open heart surgery and had a pace maker put in. (she also had to deal with problems and complications from the pace maker) She is diabetic. She still does not have her strength back to normal, yet. One would think that celebrating a birthday alone and in poor health would make a person depressed. Not her.
She told us that every year on her birthday, she stays up the night before so that at 12:01 am she can pray to God with thanksgiving for seeing her into another year. Then she toast herself with sparkling cider. Thus begins the celebrating. This year was no different for her. Her offered her thanksgiving and toast. But this year, her sparkling cider was a gift from a co-worker. When she arrived at work, her boss (a wonderful guy) jumped out of a decorated box. She had mentioned she always wanted to have a man jump out of a cake. We could not find a cake, but she loved it. She even was willing to recreate her reaction for the camera when it appeared. We laughed with her all day. Does the celebrating stop there? No. In the course of the day, she received a nice check from a bank customer. Someone paid for her to spend the night at the new Holiday Express. She went out and brought a new outfit and had room service deliver breakfast in bed Saturday morning. She was so up beat and happy all day on Friday. Her joy overflowed to the rest of us (with the exception of a couple of people who tried all day to dampen her spirit --- such sour and joyless people. We wont go there. Not today.I will mention that I pray for those people to discover some happiness.)
In a world (my world is my work) where there is no sunshine, no happiness, she was able to totally enjoy herself and bring a ray of sunshine to others. She gave without knowing she did especially on a day that was all about her.
I am trying to live my life with her outlook. I am looking for ways to add extra joy in my life as well as others. All I can say about this is "you rock, girl!!!!"