Quiet Angel Publishing Blog

I wrote this prior to Christmas, but in my busy state, I never finished it and posted it to my blog.  I read this blog to my Mom, to thank her for another realization on my part of what a wonderful life I have had, and she started to cry and made me promise I would post it.  So here it is my post-Christmas wish….but really it is for life and the coming year!!

The Holidays!  I love the holidays, I always have.  I have been so blessed with my family and how wonderful they have always made them.  I truly have.  I remember as a kid actually hearing Santa on the roof and the bells of the sleigh.  My brother, Tim and I were so excited to find out that he was real and was visiting US.  How wonderful!!  Of course years later, we did find out it was our parents, my dad on the roof with bells at the urging of my mom, but how wonderful were they.  The magic, the surprising us kids, but most of all the love.  We were truly blessed!  And oh church of course, even through we went kicking and screaming sometimes (well ok a lot of the times), because we wanted to wait for Santa and not miss a thing and Church as a kid was not part of that.  Funny how it takes time for things to set in.  Now after “growing up”, having cancer, and several scares along the way, you realize just how important everything is!  Everything!  What lengths your parents went to to show you love and to make things magical for you.  Taking you to church to give you unity, not only with what you believe, but the family as a whole.  There were five of us kids, four boys and myself the youngest and the only girl, and it took a lot to teach us, love us, provide for us, and to give us guidance, how did they do it?  Yep, I love the holidays, not for the gifts, but for the love that my mothers home is filled with, with family, friends and the true spirit of Christmas. 

And if all this was not enough, I am a December Baby.  I was born in December just nine days away from Christmas.  Now this could have been a whole other burden on my family and they could have put it all in together for Christmas, but all of us kids had separate, wonderful birthdays, my mom never allowing them to be tied in with anything and again the same this year.  I am so blessed, and again not only for the action of my birthday, but the love and support.  I can never understand people who do not want to celebrate their birthdays, if there is one thing I understand now more then ever, it is not the age, it is YOU, celebrate YOU.  YOU are still here, YOU have been blessed with another year, YOU are being graced with life, with the privilege of growing old.  Be proud, how silly to hide from it.  IT is better then the alternative.  If you are not celebrating birthdays, you are not here!  That really came to heart ten years ago and every year since my diagnoses.  I am here, I am alive, I get to grow old and “when I grow up I want to be an old women”.  I think we forget all of this in the states especially.  For example, my paddling team traveled to China to compete.  Now there was a bunch of us strapping young’ins in shape, tough, ready to fight the battle of the bay, and we had one of our lady paddlers with us, she is just a youngster at the age of 80!  She paddles her heart out and does not miss a beat with the team, parties, outings, etc.  Well, while we were in China..she was a ROCKSTAR, the Chinese people wanted nothing to do with us “in shape” youngsters, they interviewed, filmed and spoke to her everywhere we went!  Isn’t that how it should be?  After all she deserved it! She has lived life to the fullest and proves it to us “younger kids” everyday! 

So…again…celebrate, celebrate you, grow old, be proud, and when we make it through this life of ups and downs, goods and bads and live to a great old age, with the wrinkles, laugh lines (that is what my mom tells me)….and the wear and tear we have earned!!!  Sing to yourself, to everyone, or in my case try not to scare anyone off and hum….

WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE AND OLD WOMAN!!!