Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

This is long rather rambling post, so I wanted to start out with two photos I feel grateful that I have:

Have you ever had a day that you almost cannot even explain? You guys might think I am totally nuts, but man, yesterday was that kind of day. It is hard to explain, but for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be at this moment in time. I am so grateful that I lived my life yesterday....

It is too long to type out, but basically, I was overwhelmed with signs that everything I have done in the past has led me to exactly where I am right now.  I tired to explain it to my husband, and he thought everything was simply coincidence (and I think he thought I was nuts), but I do not believe any of it was an accident....  I met an amazing lady because I dialed the wrong number, I met another person who absolutely needed a product I had to sell her....  things like that. Oh, it does sound like I am nuts when I type it out.... 

And a woman came into my booth and was looking at my Gratitude Tree and she glanced at the following photo of my Mom and she said, "Wow - it is incredible that someone embraced life to that point." I asked her what she meant and she said that rarely does anyone allow themselve to enjoy life to the point of that kind of laughter. And she mentioned what a blessing it is to have it captured in a photo. She had no idea that the photo was of my Mom or that my Mom had passed away. She just noticed this one photo of a random person and commented to me how amazing the person was just from seeing that one picture. That person has no idea how impacted I was by her comment.

Anyway, the day ended with this long, drawn out way of how our family picks a movie.... and after this odd process, we ended up with Mr. Magoriums Emporium (which I had only seen a few moments of here and there). All four of us laid on the air mattress in the basement and watched the entire movie snuggled togehter. Well, I SOBBED through the darn movie...  it really struck a cord. It started with them saying how all stories end and then you need to start a new book (I knew I was in trouble at this point) and then it went on to show this amazingly wonderful last day and as he "left" this earth I was sobbing..... And there is this incredible life lesson played out in the movie.... it was beautiful and meaningful and MAN, it made me miss my mom. What I would give for one last day with her.... basically the story was about finding the courage to move on because that truly is your only option.

Here is an exchage from the movie that stopped my heart for a moment:

Mr. Edward Magorium: (to Molly about dying) When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies."  That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet everytime I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.

Mr. Edward Magorium; I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading....  and let the next story begin. And, if anyone asks you what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest "He died."

Molly Mahoney: (starting to sob) I love you.

Mr. Edward Magorium: I love you, too.
(picks Molly up, sighs heavily)
Mr. Edward Magorium: Your life is an occasion, Rise to it.

listen to this if you have a couple minutes....  I found it while trying to link to a part of the movie I wanted to post here. I have no idea how to put a you tube video in here, but I think you can link to it. I never heard this girl before - I guess she was on TV.... I loved the video.....  I think, if you have not seen it, you should rent this movie and look for the message you might pull out of it.

OK, I have got to go back to my booth....  Both girls are coming with me today to play with the 7 year old in the booth next to me. They are so excited to make a new friend. I love how kids look at the world. I hope you all have a day that brings you some sort of clarity about something. And that you enjoy every moment.