The Decision to Live and Live Well

Dear Life,

     let me begin by saying thank you. I appreciate you supporting me over the past forty-six years. I have had some joys and pains, some celebrations and some regrets, but all in all, I have enjoyed the journey thus far. I thought I would have passed from here by the age of forty, but, six years after reaching that milestone, I am still going strong. Although I was a little puzzled and surprized, I am stilll nonetheless grateful. Since I am still living, I have made a decision to continue living and to live well. My confidence and appearance have improved since I have come to realize I am worthy of you. I am less intimidated by the haters and the people who are so full of themselves that they think they are more worthy of you than others are. Most days I still struggle a little in the confidence area, but I am sure of the fact that you and I are supposed to be together for a lot longer. My first set of life goals were callibrated to the age of forty.

     Now that I have surpassed that goal, I have, of necessity, to set a new marker for you to carry me to. I have decided that aiming for another sixty years is not greedy or excessive, but that it makes perfectly good sense. In the event that I live past 100 years, I already have my heart set on at least twenty more beyond that goal. You know, life, I have come to love you. I used to believe I had to look forward to giving you up. Now I am convinced that that idea is disrespectful to both you and to me. I want to embrace you more fully and during my next sixty to eighty years, I want to focus on simultaneously encouraging others to do the same. Afterall, you have a lot to offer. You are filled with a lot of challenges, but you also offer a lot of beauty and fulfillment. You are gracious in your ability to carry us through hard times and also to bring us around to realize how much we have to appreciate day after day.

     Now, maybe I will experience more pain in the second part of our relationship than I did in the first portion, but I believe it will be to my benefit. I have a tremendous amount of wonderful placid memories from part one to support me through part two. I gotta admit: Part one was a blast and may be hard to top, but I believe you have enough creativity to outlast me and everyone I love. So again Life, thank you.

     This time, thank you in advance for preparing me to live longer and stronger than I ever have before and thanks for all the beautiful companions and experiences that have filled part one and that will decorate and fill part two. I love you.

Sincerely,
Judy Witherspoon - Sunday 3/25/2012 4:15pm