The True Meaning of Life.

Post 558 ~ ~ ~ Thursday, 15th January, 2009.

Hello Everyone ~~ Why don't I keep my mouth shut? Saying we had not had any days over 40 C and then we sure had a beauty. It was almost 43 C which is 109.4 F. That was
bad enough but we had been notified that the water pipes needed cleaning so there was
no water most of the day, so only a fan to help a bit. I was very glad to have the water
back on and the Evaporative Cooler going, as it uses water. I hope you are not having
too many extremes with your weather. And I guess some of you are as we are in the middle of Winter or Summer. I did give a thought to the workmen doing the pipes in that
awful heat. It has been much cooler since, around 30 C is fine. In the 80s F.

Thank you so much Robyn for the lovely award, and my apologies to Rhi who gave me one just before Christmas and also Christina. Sorry to be so long acknowledging it but will try to do both on my next post.

Tonight's story was sent to me by my niece Vicki, and also from her husband Rex. Thank
you both. Vicki is in Adelaide with her Dad, my brother, Peter having treatment for her
illness. Please keep her in your prayers as she has had a very bad time. See Peter's blog.

The True Meaning of Life.

A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package. "This," he said "isn't any ordinary package."
He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.
"She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on, she was saving it for a special occasion."

Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, as his wife had just died.

He turned to me and said, "Never save something for a special occasion.

Every day in your life is a special occasion."

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not just survived.

I no longer keep anything.

I use crystal glasses every day.

I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions. I use it whenever I want.

The words 'Someday...' and 'One day ...' are fading from my dictionary.

If it's worth seeing, listening to or doing, I want to see, listen or do it NOW.

I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning. This, nobody can tell.

I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends. She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels.

I like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favourite food.

It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.

Each day, each hour, each minute is special.

Live for today, for tomorrow is promised to no-one.

If you read this, it is because someone cares for you and probably, there's someone you care about. So send this to your friends and loved ones.

Don't wait for "one of these days' Remember that 'One day' is far away. . . or might never come.

No matter if you are superstitious or not, spend some time reading it as it holds useful messages for the soul. Thank you Rex, a good one, and Vicki sent it today.
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COLOR IS GOOD.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. My blood pressure was high, and my
cholesterol was high, I'd gained some weight and I didn't feel so hot.

My doctor said eating right doesn't have to be complicated and it would solve my physical problems.
He sadi just think in colors .. Fill your plate with bright colors . . Greens, Yellows, reds etc.

I went right home and ate an entire bowl of :



I felt better immediately. I didn't know eating right was so easy.

COLOR IS GOOD.
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One from my good friend Nancy~~ Thank you for this one.
Something to think about the next time you eat out !!

A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a difference for an organization. . . .
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed the waiter who took our order
carried a spoon in his shirt pocket.

It seemed a little strange, but I ignored it. However when the busboy brought our water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around the room and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets.

When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well," he explained, "The restaurant's owners hired Anderson Consulting, experts in efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes. After several months of statistical analysis, they concluded that
customers drop their spoons 73.84 per cent more often than any other utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that contingency, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man hours per shift."

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his spare spoon.
"I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitechen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now." I was rather impressed.

The waiter served our main course and I continued to look around. I then noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies.

My curiosity got the better of me and before he walked off, I asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
"Oh, certainly," he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is as observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the rest-room." "How so?"

"See," he continued, "by tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and that way eliminate the need to wash the hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 per cent."

"Okay, that makes sense, but . . . if the string helps you get it out, how do you put it back in?"
"Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even further, "I don't know about the others, but I use
the spoon."
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One from my dear friend Patty ~~ thank you Patty.

TREE HUGGER.

A woman from Austin, who was a tree hugger and anti-hunter, purchased several acres of Hill
Country land, near Lake Travis, Texas. There was a huge tree on one of the highest points in the tract.

She wanted to view the natural splendor of her land, so she climbed a tree. As she neared the top. she encountered a spotted owl. It attacked her and in her haste to escape, the woman slid down the tree to the ground. The ensuing fall incurred several splinters of wood in her crotch.

In considerable pain, she hurried to the nearest doctor, 35 minutes away. She told him she was an environmentalist and anti-hunter and how she came to receive the splinters. The doctor listened to her story with great patience. He then told her to go to the examining room and he would see if he could help her.

The impatient patient sat and waited for three hours before the doctor reappeared.
The angry woman demanded, "What took you so long?"

He smiled and said, "Well, I had to get permits from US Enviromental Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife and Keep Texas beautiful before I could remove old-growth timber from a recreational area.
I am sorry, but they turned me down." GOD BLESS TEXAS !!
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A few from my good friend Linda Lander. Thanks you Linda for all the things you send me.

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was . . . . .

A four year old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed on to his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, "Nothing, I just
helped him cry."
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Teacher, Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted.

A little girl said, "I know about adoption. I was adopted."

"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child.

"It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."
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On my way home one day, I stopped to watch a Little League baseball game that was being played in the park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was.

"We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," I said, "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."
"Discouraged ?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. . . "Why should we be discouraged?
We haven't been up to bat yet."
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Enough for tonight. Be kind to one another and enjoy your lives my friends.
My love and best wishes to you all. Cheers, Merle.

Post 558 ~ ~ ~ Thurssday, 15th January, 2009.
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