The title is the most fundamental part of life for all of us. But, what we do with that middle part is mostly up to us. My sagely wisdom after 75 years of life is to appreciate everything that comes along, both the good and the not-so-good.☺︎ Too many of us go about living our lives focusing on the high points. Yes, they do come along once in a great while, but when we focus entirely on them, we are basically throwing away the other 99% of life. Take it from me, if you do that you will regret it.

Often times the lows have more valuable lessons than the highs. Yes, my wedding day even after thirty-six years is still sharp in my mind, but how I came to more fully understand and appreciate the woman I married came from our “disagreements”. Sometimes we yelled things to each other things that were hurtful and should never have been said, but even those times led to a deeper appreciation of each other. I don’t expect that we were much different than most who have been married 30+ years. We had our good-times, and our not-so-good-times. Celebrate both those types of experience as they make us what we are.

If I can just pass along one of the lessons of life I have learned, it is that we need to find a reason to celebrate every day as they come along. Daily routines are part of my core life. They have always been, but what we make of each day is what matters, especially in our senior years when one day can simply meld into the next.

Part of my morning routine is to sit back and decide what I want to do with the day ahead. I refuse to just let them melt together. As I have said many times here on RJsCorner, I must never stop learning. Yes, my day is often filled with routines that I enjoy, but they must never become mundane. When you discover that happening it’s time to make some changes.