130. Make the Best of It.

Life is like a book.  Each unique publication, if you will, has a beginning, a middle and an end.  They also are filled with chapters, some of those chapters are better than others, some could even be called spectacular while others...well...not so much .  Never the less, all of these chapters make up the story of our lives. 

What we chose to make of this book, chapter by chapter, for the most part is up to us as individuals.  Certainly, there are outside forces that impact our decisions, many are beyond our control.  The trick though is to try to make the best of what ever happens.  I realize that that can sometimes be a tall order...making the best of things. When our daughter, Tracy, died, now that was a tall order to the tenth power.  About the only thing that could be the best of things was that our other daughter, Trisha, and her husband adopted Tracy's one year old son, Robby, as their own.  The other tall order?  Trisha and Christian lived in Switzerland.  Daughter and, at the time, our only grandchild gone in one tick of the clock.

Bernie Segal's book "Love, Medicine and Miracles" helped me through Tracy's illness.  We had the pleasure of she and Robby living with us during that time and  I read a chapter each day before I left work.  As you can guess, I read it more than once during the two years.  It gave me the courage to go home and face her and Robby with a smile and a laugh.  The last thing she needed was to see me coming home each day as a sad sack with a depressing face.  Consequently, we have many wonderful memories of that otherwise hideous chapter.

My Great Uncle Reese always said "If you want to have a good time, you have to take it with you."  Brother, is that the truth.  If you wait for someone else to make your good time for you, well, let's just say sometimes you would have to wait a long time.  That one little sentence has been an enduring truth for Bob and I, one that we have tried to use daily.  Wouldn't it be great if everyone felt that way?  If we all had a smile, that one thing in life that doesn't cost anyone a penny, not a red cent, how wonderful each day would be.

My daddy wrote his book his way.  It saddens me that the last chapter was long and in his words, "Just the same old thing."  No matter how hard my sister tried and she was steadfast in caring for him, he just gave up and forgot that he could still have a good time.  It was his book though and he had a right to write it his way.  I can't judge him, I just wish the last chapter had been more fun for him.  But, that is my problem and I have to make the best of it...for me. 

My daddy and my sister, Becky having fun.

                            Arthur Lloyd Scarborough  August 31, 1917 --- July 6th, 2011