TIME

Good morning from a grey and cool city of Adelaide, where the sky is pewter grey and heavy with rain - but it is again deliciously cool and pleasant.  We have just had yet another heavy shower of rain and it is lovely to hear the water running into tanks.

I did my shopping yesterday which means that the whole of Saturday looms before me and it is my  "time"  - how to spend that time is the question.  When I finish here my first task will be to do my medication for the next two weeks.

It is something which has to be done and now that I have topped up my supplies from the Pharmacy, I can get it done for the coming weeks.

As I do this, I use the time to think about my life, my time and my Donor.

I spend time thinking of my Donor's family and giving thanks for the unselfish gift that have given me the last five years of my life in good health.  The medication becomes part of life's routine and I am thankful for it.  I don't like doing it - but I am thankful for it.

I intend to use the day to make soup (ham bone is in cooking already) - with the weather a bit chilly I feel like some soup and what we don't use, will freeze for days ahead.

My printer has the facility to be WiFi and I hope to work on that today so that I will be able to print from my iPad - I love the technology that allows me to do this and to learn more and more each day.    I cherish the technology which allows me to have contact with friends overseas and interstate.  Messenger programs/social media and email all keep me in touch with those I love and cherish.   Of course there is the good old faithful telephone - haven't we come a long long way since Alexander Graham Bell made that first call in 1876 marking his invention.    Now, so many of us carry our own personal phone with us and are not out of touch at all.    Our phones have become so much more than phones - camera, computer, calculator and don't forget those "apps" which give us access to weather, sport results, and of course Google gives us access to the world.

Time is indeed priceless and I value every moment of every day and give thanks for the time I have and the celebrations with family.  I am trying to spend it wisely and to enjoy each day and be present to the moment.

That will take a good part of my day and as I work away I will listen to music - which feeds my soul.   I keep in touch with news and world affairs on line (refusing to purchase local newspapers which are full of advertising and often are politically biased.)   

There is always something to fill my days and I contented with my lot - I am blessed indeed and am glad to be back blogging and sharing my days with those who choose to read.

Next Thursday I am a taking care of Grace and Henry for a few hours and am really looking forward to that - I will have to find something fun to do with them.   They are easy children to care for - they amuse themselves and I value the privilege that it is to care for children.

How will you spend your time today  ?    Quietly  ?  Peacefully ? or are you in the middle of a whirl of excitement or travel ?   Are you off to work and under pressure at your job ?     However you spend your day - be present to the moment and share your smile with those you meet.   Say "Good Morning" to someone - you may well be their only human contact for the day and could bring joy to them.    Let your little light shine wherever you are.

In a world that is full of sadness and distress - I have decided that although I can't do very much at all globally - I can do something locally !   I can make my little corner of the world brighter and warmer for those I encounter each day.   I can be sure that those I love really know that I love them and that's just what I intend to do - I am going to let "my little light shine."

I have chosen my word for the year and the word is 

EMBRACE

and I will embrace all that comes my way in 2015 with a thankful heart and an acceptance and I encourage you all to choose a word or phrase for the year and live by it - this is the fifth year I have chosen a word and among them have been HOPE, CELEBRATE and ATTITUDE. 

Have a wonderful Saturday and enjoy whatever you do - be safe if you are out and about - take that smile with you and don't forget to share it.

For my faithful followers who may wish to comment on a post - this is how it is done. 

At the bottom of each post you will find the following: Posted by Linda J. at  ????  Comments  If you click on the word "comments" that will take you to the page where you can leave a comment about that particular post.

Thank you for visiting the Musings from my Heart.

Love and hugs,

TO REACH OUT EAGERLY AND WITHOUT FEAR

Welcome to Sunday Morning in my little corner of the world, where Spring is trying very hard to dance on the stage, but Winter is still in the wings and holding her back.  The sky is silver grey and there is no wind and every so often the sun manages to peep through the clouds.

I had a very busy day yesterday working with Donate Life Australia at the Royal Show again and it was a delightful day with Judy, Lovely Lesley and Alison.  The company was great and the people we spoke with were very interesting - I am a people person and know and understand that everyone has a story and I love sharing those stories.

At times we were busy at other times not and there was time for some silliness among the seriousness of our purpose and it was good to share those moments as well as the passion that brought us together.

It was a long day and I was looking forward to sitting quietly on the bus on the way home - well that didn't happen - I sat close to a lady who asked me about the route the bus would take and then she began to talk - it was a very interesting ride home - she shared HER story with me and then said some things to me and I have no idea how she could possibly have know these things about me.  She told me lots of things about me which were quite true - some of which were that I had two grown daughters, I had been ill but was doing very much better and that I grieved for times I had lost.  All of which is perfectly true  - I do have two grown and beautiful daughters - I have been ill and I am doing so much better and I do indeed grieve for the times and days I lost when in a coma.  How on earth this lovely and very elegant soul knew these things I will never know - she went on to assure me I would never get those times back and it was okay to let them go.  

I alighted from the bus and left her to continue her journey (probably to baffle someone else) but it left me a little disturbed as to how she knew these things.  She did assure me that it would all be alright and I doubt that our paths will ever cross again but she did reach out eagerly and without fear to me.

I have learned too to reach out eagerly and without fear to those who cross my path (not with any information about them) but just to offer a kindly word, a smile and some words of encouragement and comfort and I live with the hope that those actions do in fact bring comfort to people.

I have learned so much in a short time - probably the past four years have given me time to think, to ponder and peruse my life and to see things as they really are and how I would like them to be.  I live in possibility and take inspiration from the courage and strength of those I encounter - and there are those who are very brave and are getting on with the living in spite of constant pain.

I enjoy the company of people ~ the smile from the elderly gentleman at the shopping centre - (I may be the only one he talks with that day) to laugh and find joy in the company of children and to reach out eagerly and without fear to those I meet.

 I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.  
Helen Keller 

I take delight in the people I meet and when we part I feel richer for having had them in my life for that short time.   Friendships are made and some last a very long time and others are just "one time" friendships and I am thankful for all of those I call friend.

I am loving my life and tasting experience to the utmost and finding lots of good things and special people along the way.

Thank you for visiting the musings of my heart - a heart today that is thankful for all that is mine - for those I love and cherish deeply in my heart, for the love and care they show to me and for the joy they bring.

Take care on this Sunday - rest, refresh, restore and enjoy some time with those you love or if that isn't possible - find a nice cosy spot and walk through some memories to bring you close.

Love and hugs,

Linda. 

A SACRED EVENT

Good Afternoon and welcome to my little corner of the world, where in spite of the forecast of rain, the sun is shining and the sky is blue.   The air is clear and there are birds chirping in my garden.

Life is calm and peaceful and I have done things this week that I could never have done before when I was ill.   My time at the Royal Show working for Donate Life has made me very aware of many things.

I am aware of my health and the valued gift I received when I received the Gift of Life ~ all because another human being made the decision to be a Donor - I live because of my liver donor and am grateful every day.

I have met many other Human Beings in the last week and each one has a story to tell of a journey along a sometimes very rugged pathway.  I have met and spent time with a Donor Mum who is struggling with her grief and yet is proud and out there and actively campaigning for Organ Donation.

I have met other recipients and people who work with a passion to bring about the very best outcome with the wonderful medical skills available to us these days.  I have met Doctors, Surgeons, Intensive Care nurses - all of them "angels in comfortable shoes".  My life is blessed and much richer for these experiences and for meeting members of the public and telling the story of my journey.  

I have seen the picture from both sides - from the eyes of a Donor Mum and through my own eyes as a recipient and we both stand in wonder and awe at what can be and is being achieved.

I have met and become very close friends with another recipient who is aware daily of the gift he has received and who is living his life to the full in grateful awareness.  He is finding beauty and joy in the little things of life and not sweating the small stuff.

Each one of these encounters is indeed a "sacred event" as everyone has a different story to tell of a different journey and I rejoice that I can truly say that "The joy is in the journey" - that "life is a journey not a destination".

I am thankful for all those I have met and whose lives in some way have touched mine and who have been part of a "sacred event".

It was wonderful to share with people my story in the Donate Life "Book of Life" and to show that I am alive and well.

It is my hope and my prayer that I will be able to share my story with many more people and encourage those who wait for transplant and those in the early days post transplant  - that there is indeed "life after transplant" - for me a very peaceful and happy life ~ one I live with a thankful heart.

To those who read this Blog - thank you for taking the journey with me, for your love and care and support I am very grateful.

I wake each morning with a song in my heart, a spring in my step and a smile on my lips and gratitude for another day of life.    I am aware very much that I live on borrowed time - and I am making the most of it.

I am truly thankful for each "sacred event" in my life.

Love and hugs,

Linda.