It started with my mom. I called in to check and see if they had been given a plan to kick my dad's cancer in the rear end. They did not. Apparently there are too many cooks in the kitchen and not one person in charge so it has been a bit of a hurry up and wait game (not a good thing when you have a cancerous tumor on your leg). I could not believe my mom's optimism. She was a little frustrated, yes, but she was so damn positive. She said "we are not going to just sit around by the phone all day...we have got living to do". She then went on to tell me that they went to dinner with friends last night, went to a Reds baseball game earlier this week, and my dad was out helping someone with car trouble this afternoon. Kudos to them! Such an inspiration.
After chatting with mom, I went to a ladies luncheon downtown. It was sponsored by Business First and I went with my boss (who was literally one of three men in the entire 800 person lunch). When I asked him who was speaking he just said "some gal who was kidnapped as a young girl". "Elizabeth Smart?", I asked. He was like "I don't know, everyone said it was going to be good". Let me back track a bit. I vividly remember the Elizabeth Smart case. I remember following it on the news and even picking up the issue of People magazine when she got married last year because I was so happy everything worked out for her. Sure enough, Elizabeth Smart was the speaker. Boy, did she have a story to tell, and she told it well. After being kidnapped, raped, and brainwashed for nine months at age 14, she has become such an inspiration to people who have had hurdles in their lives (i.e. any and everyone). Her message was simple (and it came from advice given to her by her mother, no doubt). She said, when she got home that her mother looked at her and said "you know what the best thing you can do to get back at those monsters that did this to you?" She said "be happy in your life, and move on". She said if you do this, they lose. Such an inspiration.
0 comments:
Post a Comment