MUSINGS ON A SUNDAY

Welcome to my Sunday morning where the sun is actually showing her face after several grey grey days, but it is a very watery sun and no warmth in it, but the sky is brighter and there are patches of blue sky.

It's been a busy few days in my little corner of the world - culminating yesterday in a full day beading class which I thoroughly enjoyed - I was working with tiny seed beads and crystals and have to finish the project off at home - I am determined not to let this become another U.F.O. (unfinished object) it is very heavy on the eyes and sitting for six hours in a most uncomfortable chair meant eye strain and back ache, but a hot shower on coming home soon eased that.

The days have been very cold and settling into a warm bed has been lovely and I have slept much better recently (missing text messages and phone calls at times.)

It is lovely to share times out with friends by the wonderful medium of cell/mobile phone and to share their joys 

I want to share with you the joys of new life, new growth and hope.

This is a beautiful rose planted in a special garden in a small town on the Jersey Shore of USA.   This rose is planted in a Garden called "Garden of Life"  and is planted to celebrate the new life post transplant of my dearest friend and to honour his Donor.  This is the first blossom on this rose and as the photographs shows it is very beautiful and there is sunshine and shadow in the picture - which symbolized the change from illness to health and the joy -the darkness to to the light.  I received this photograph late at night and there were tears of absolute joy and delight.


Life before transplant can be so very difficult and the transformation that comes with a life saving transplant is amazing and wonderful to behold. I know this on a personal level with my own, but to share the joys and recovery of a treasured friend is a double blessing.  I have watched the changes, the improvements and, like the rose, the blossoming of this wonderful, caring soul.  


I have seen the changes, shared the ups and downs and watched the life changing experiences from half away round the world, and the significance of the blooming of this rose is certainly not lost on me ~ I understand very well the gratitude and the wonder at hearing from the Donor family.


We are forever changed and open to living each moment of our lives ~ living the length and width of our lives ~ living in possibility and facing the sun so that the shadows of the past are behind us.


There is, planted very close to this rose, a lovely pink rose which honours my life and that of my Donor and this is cherished.  I am deeply touched by this and very emotional ~ and that's okay - it is wonderful to be in touch with my emotions and to share life and love over time and space.


There is certainly joy in the journey and in every moment of every day I find reasons for giving thanks ~ not only for my life but for the love and friendship that has come out of adversity. I am alive and well and I thank all the powers that be for my transplanted life and that of my friend.


I missed the parcel delivery on Saturday so I will be off to the Post Office early on Monday to see what exciting thing is in the mail for me.   


I am a talker, a dreamer and a communicator and I love all forms of mail - email, text message, video chat, and of course "snail mail" ~ I enjoy the delight of opening letters and cards that come over miles and and I anticipate visits to the Post Office with great delight.


Thank you for visiting the Musings of this love and joy filled heart ~ a heart filled with gratitude.


Whatever you have planned for your Sunday - I hope that you will find joy in your journey and that the sun shines in your heart.   Take care as you travel through your life - keep your eyes on the hedgerow and not upon the thorns.


Live your life to the full length and width of each and find new joys each day.


Love and hugs,
Linda. 

WEDNEDAY @ 98 WEEKS AND DREAMING

Pysches © Josephine Wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQorVLTWeEA

I Have A Dream - Westlife

Good Morning and welcome to Wednesday and I have a dream (I have lots of them) not so much the night time dreams - you have to be asleep for those.   But I am a daydreamer, I live in hope and anticipation of what is ahead for me.

I woke this morning to this song on my Facebook page and I was thankful and felt blessed so now I share it with you.

COME DREAM A DREAM

Come dream a dream with me

Of all the things you'd like to do

Let's share the music and the laughter

And cherish friendship true.

Dream big with me and hope

That easy will our way

Come walk beside the ocean

Feel the salt sea spray.

Come dance upon the wind with me

Forgetting all our fears

We'll run and play together

Casting aside the years.

Dream strong with me and wish

That our path will be long and true

Let's climb the mountains together

And take in all the view.

Come soar with me on eagle wings

Let's forget the days of pain,

With courage take each other's hand

And onward go again.

Dream clear with me beside you

Let me wipe away your tears

A good life, a happy life

A second change at years.

© Linda J.  Vaughan

15th. November 2011

Today is a beautiful, clear, happy and ordinary day ~ and how I love those ordinary days.   I have been out in the car and spent a short time at the shops with a head full of ideas for writing.   I have one of those mini recorders and am seriously thinking of taking it out with me so that I can record my ideas and bring them home with me.  I had it for lecture notes, but a new set of batteries should see it back in working order and pressed into service.

Our weather is heating up and we have a forecast for 37 for Friday (almost 100) and then a change overnight and back to mid twenties.  We have had some really scorching long hot stretches here in Adelaide over the past few years and each time I have missed them by being in hospital.    We had a Truck carrying chocolate roll over on a main road in 44 degree heat (almost 112) and the chocolate was literally running down the gutters.  I don't like the hot weather and it can be so dangerous.

Still, today is lovely as I celebrate 98 weeks of life with "Oliver" (that's my new liver's name) and I rejoice and weep for joy.   It is 686 days and yes, I;m counting each and every sweet one of them.   A special friend has just celebrated 40 days with his new liver and is doing so well - a living, shining example of the wonder of tissue and organ donation and transplant - Congratulations Joe.

I am well into Christmas mode and have been fiddling this morning and I am covered in pink glitter and my keyboard shines - I love it.  Bling and glitter - "bling it on."

To be at this side of a transplant and feel well no way takes away the feeling and the memories of the waiting game - firstly waiting for a correct diagnosis and then waiting to be listed and that's a scary procedure in itself.   I had five full days of full on testing with appointments with every branch of the medical profession you could name.  Then I waited, wondering had I done well enough, had I passed the test, did I meet the requirements and then the relief when finally I knew I was listed.   Then of course comes the waiting for the right organ - I was blessed to only wait 8 weeks for "Oliver" and even though I rejoice I remember the sadness that my Donor's family went through.  Each milestone for me is a milestone of a much different kind for them  ~ there is never a day passes when thoughts of them don't come into my mind.

Well friends, I am off now to enjoy lunch and read a paper sent to me about another man's journey with liver disease.

I have a dream that one day the waiting will not be long and there will be enough organs as needed  - I hope, I dream and I pray for this.

Thanks for visiting the "Musings from My Heart"  a very thankful heart today.

Love and hugs,

Linda.

WELCOME TO MONDAY - hoping it is not "Just Another Manic Monday"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZgLcK5LzI

The Bangles - Just Another Manic Monday.

Good Morning and welcome to Monday - I remember oh so well those Manic Mondays - when everyone had to be at a different place at the same time.  Oh boy they were busy times with forgotten uniforms, homework not done, flat tyres and agitated children and a very frazzled Mother.

Monday is cold here but of course it is winter, and the sky is grey with rain on the way.  And for me it is certainly not a "Manic Monday" - I didn't get to sleep until late and surprise surprise it was almost eight when I woke and I am struggling to get into routine.

My Monday is "just another day" - an ordinary, mundane and very beautiful day.  I love the ordinary days and remember how I wept for, cried for, pleaded for ordinary days and now I welcome them with great affection.  I am just so delighted to be alive and living well.  I try not to let stress live in my heart and home and I no longer play with the "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Sisters"

I had a brilliant idea that I would move some furniture yesterday - well that didn't work. I wanted to move my Father's roll top desk and now it sits in the middle of the floor and I wait for someone to come home to help me.   Ambition and capabilities are the words that come to mind there.  Ho hum.  It doesn't matter - it was a lesson learned.  That's what happens when you are home on your own for a while and think "I'll just move that"  and no drama really.

I hope your weekend was a good one - Saturday was fun for me and Sunday quiet apart from the furniture episode.  I hope you were able to relish the joy of friendship and family and that there are memories stored away in your memory bank because they will serve you well in future days.

We are almost to the summer/winter solstice when we in Australia will have the shortest day and our nortern hemisphere friends will enjoy their longest day. That means that the days will get progressively longer and the mornings lighter but it will be a while before we really start to notice the difference.   I watched the moon last night and the sky was crystal clear - now why couldn't it be that way for the lunar eclipse?  The weather patterns are something over which we have no control.

Enjoy your sunny day/winter cold day wherever you are - I hope that at least in your heart the sun can shine for you and that there is joy in the little things.   The sound of ice cubes clinking in a glass, a spider in a web, dewdrops/rain drops on the leaves in your garden.   Find something to be thankful for and share a smile with a stranger but don't forget those at home - they need your smiles too.

I am off now to try to catch up with my morning - but I somehow imagine I will be behind with things all day and that doesn't matter a bit - what doesn't get done today can wait until tomorrow.

Blessings about for you and sunshine in your shadows. 

Thanks for reading "The Musings from My Heart"

Love and hugs,