I recently read about a 35-year old woman who had just passed away from cancer.  Before she died, she penned her own obituary.  One line in it stood out from all the rest. She wrote “Damn, it was good!”

That line hit me and stayed with me every day for a week.  At 35, she had to say goodbye to a life not even half-lived, yet one still overflowing with joy and love and adventure.  She wrote of her experiences in life with passion and exuberance. There was no pity party, only gratitude for how she had lived, what she’d done and seen and felt, and hope for others to fully embrace their lives.

Makes you stop and think, right?

Damn, life really is good. Even when things aren’t humming along, even when it feels less than wonderful . . . it’s still good.

Sometimes I can get a little down when I think about the state of our world.  The incessant harping and tweeting and complaining.  It wears on me.  Then I read something like that young woman’s message and I’m right back where I belong.  Living in gratitude and joy.

My favorite newspaper columnist recently wrote about “stringing small pleasures together to bring some semblance of joy to life.”  He’s gone through unbelievable losses in the last year, but his sense of humor and commitment to finding joy even in such difficult times has been inspiring.

Stringing small pleasures together.  I love that. Life offers us the opportunity for small pleasures every single day if we’re paying attention. And every season in nature brings new opportunities.  As do the seasons of life.  A couple of recent opportunities brought this home to me.

Easter morning, Michael and I went on a lovely hike.  What a beautiful morning it was.  The hills were covered in gorgeous yellow, purple and green, and as the song goes, “the hills were alive with the sound of . . . . sneezing?” No, that was my husband’s hay fever, but that’s another story.   Not counting the sneezing, starting the day with a morning hike amid nature’s spectacular display was a simple pleasure that filled us up.

And on Earth Day, I got to spend the day with my beloved niece and her two little girls.  Since it was Earth Day, we walked to lunch and picked up litter along the way.  It was so adorable watching these sweet little things being so serious about the task at hand.  What a small, but rich, pleasure.

It’s easy to let simple, unremarkable moments slip by unnoticed. But when I’m afforded a reminder like the young woman’s or columnist’s message, I’m happy to take it to heart and try a little harder to grab each small pleasure and hold it close.

Because, damn, life is good.

Till next time,

Judy