Something inspirational to get us through the week, day or a moment in our life that seems out of control:

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, Raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.' He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, As the burden becomes increasingly heavy, We won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.

When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, Let them down for a moment if you can.' So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while. Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

- Accept that some days you're the pigeon, And some days you're the statue.
- Always keep your words soft and sweet, Just in case you have to eat them.
- Always read stuff that will make you look good If you die in the middle of it.
- Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be Recalled by their maker.
- If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
- If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, It was probably worth it.- It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others. - Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, Because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
- Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.- Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
- The second mouse gets the cheese.

- You may be only one person in the world, But you may also be the world to one person.
- Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.- We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
- A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
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I loved this line from that inspiring story...

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.

Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is in life...was it to be famous, or to make money, to well-liked or to make a huge difference to the masses? And I get down because I think I haven't accomplished these things. But then I realize that sometimes the purpose of life can be very simple. In other words...To simply be kind.

Many of us think we need to have extraordinary lives...traveling all around the world in our career, climbing up the career ladder in corporate America, go sky-diving, climb Mt. Everest, be a movie star, be a millionaire, be rock star, be a comedian, be a super model, be thin, have the perfect hair, teeth, body, gosh this list could go on and on!

And when we don't accomplish these goals, we feel like a failure. But sometimes the ordinary is the extraordinary. And the rest is just fluff!

To simply be kind to others. I can do that! And what a wonderful purpose in life!

What a difference 4 years makes!

This is my first blog. I am new to this. (I know -- how long have blogs been going on? I guess it is time to jump on the bandwagon!)

I like to write, it is just trying to get myself focused to do it. So no time like the present, eh?

My blog is called Crazy Days & Magical Moments. Because that is what life is all about.

It is filled with uncertainty, times of grief, times when we feel like the circus act with 5 plates spinning up in the air with all the "things" we need to take care of in our life -- family, work, home upkeep, bills (you get the drift) and yes, even times that we think we are in a hole that we can never get out of. Those are our Crazy Days.

But I also know for a fact that it is filled with Magical Moments. That if we only focus on the "bad" in our life, we will miss all the magical opportunities that come our way. Like the one that happened for us this morning.

Kendall (my 6 year old daughter) was hopping for us today on one foot. And she went from one end of our kitchen to the other. Now she has done this before, a couple hops here and there on one foot but then loses her balance. Today was the clincher...she was hopping throughout our kitchen without holding onto anything and didn't lose her balance!

Now while this may seem routine for most people out there, it was emotionally moving for us. You see, it was only 4 years ago when Kendall finally started mastering walking without assistance. She was delayed in reaching many of her milestones. And she has hypotonia (low muscle tone) along with balance challenges that make some of these "routine" exercises, more difficult for her to attempt or even succeed. But when we saw what she accomplished today, we just know that anything is possible for her...with a little patience, time, understanding and hard work.

She has shown us a what a Magical Moment is all about.

And we revel in that.