MONDAY, MONDAY AND I AM WHO I WAS BORN TO BE.

Hello there - it is not raining - so rainy days and Mondays can't get me down, and it certainly isn't just another Manic Monday.   To me the day is perfect in Adelaide - the sun is shining and there is a cool breeze and I have achieved much today - the purple haze has gone and so too have some tables and chairs -  I have two other big tables sitting on their edge waiting for two strong men to move them out of here.

I did go to the movies yesterday and saw the new film IRON LADY with Meryl Streep - and it was amazing.  It was sad in many ways but I was captivated by the wonderful portrayal of Dame Margaret Thatcher.  Meryl Streep never missed a beat and her accent was brilliant.   As far as I am concerned she has already won the Academy Award for this year for Best Actress.  Start clearing a space on a shelf Meryl - as far as I am concerned it is on it's way to you.   It was a long film but a very accurate portrayal of the times of the "Iron Lady"  and politics aside - like her or hate her - she certainly made her mark on British Politics.

We had dinner at "Verve" - nice food, nice venue, lovely staff and a group of guys at at table nearby who attached themselves to us.  The evening progressed amid much laughter and discussions of England, Ireland and Austria.   It was hilarious really and all my fault because I said "Let's sit at the table near the window because it is lighter." I will take the blame, but it was a fun time.   So a good outing really - good film, lovely ice cream, dinner and company.

I made a statement in a Group this morning "My illness and transplant are what happened to me, they do not define me" and it caused quite a lot of discussion.   Clearly my illness and my transplant are part of my life, but they do not make me who I am.  I am Linda first and my transplant issues are secondary to that - they are what happened to me and I like to be introduced as who I am and then choose to whom I reveal my journey.

I have become, and will always be until my last breath, a staunch advocate for organ and tissue donation and organ transplant  - that's what I do.

I will happily talk to people who are interested in what happened.  I will share my journey and comfortably harass people into being certain that they have registered to be a donor and to having the conversation with their loved ones.

Organ and tissue donation, "opt in" or "opt out" is a very personal issue, but I will lay the facts out before you and let you make your own decision.  An organ donor saved my life and I shall never forget the unselfish decision of a wonderful man, nor his family for giving me the gift of life.  That's what happened to me and sure it has changed my thinking, but again it does not define me.   I am a very ordinary "girl"  who has experienced a miracle first hand and I will share that journey, but I am keen to get on and live the life I have been given - I am "Who I was Born to be."

I have had so many wonderful things happen to me that at times I am overwhelmed - I have a fabulous back up network - both in real time and in virtual time too.  I am loved, respected and cared for and all of this means a very great deal to me.  I have special people in my life whose very presence makes the sky a little bluer and the sun shine a little brighter and I thank my lucky stars that they are in my life.  They know who they are and they know that they are loved.

All of these lovely things have happened to me at a time when I am really starting to be able to do more and enjoy being well and living the life I have been given.

I am reminded of the words of William Earnest Henley in his writing "Inviticus"

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.  William Ernest Henley

Closing this blog for today with the wishes that you too may find love and laughter in your lives, that health and happiness will be yours and that you may also be "Who you were born to be."

Love and hugs and thanks for visiting the Musings of My Heart today - a heart that is overflowing with the pure joy of living.

Love and hugs,

Linda. 

"When I was a child
There were flowers that bloomed in the night
Unafraid to take in the light
Unashamed to have braved the dark


Though I may not know the answers
I can finally say I am free
And if the questions led me here
Then I am who I was born to be"