To NieNie with Admiration

"But even with all that others were willing to offer me, I realized along the way that ultimately nothing they did could make me happy.  I felt comforted by family and my faith, but peace was different from happiness.  At first I thought stubbornly that the only thing that would make me happy was for my life to look like it did before the accident.  But no one could give that to me, and no one else could make me happy. Happiness was my choice, and though it is hard won, I am the only person who can stand in the way of it."

-taken from my memoir, Heaven is Here. 

This was the blog from the NieNie Dialogues this morning. http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/  
She is the young wife and mother who suffered devastating burns from a plane crash. I deeply admire her ability to put her feelings into words and to be brave enough to face a very "beauty-driven" critical world. Her scars are dramatic and sometimes people's comments bring her to her knees ("You look like a monster!") but she continues to live her life, love her husband and raise her children. She carries on. She has chosen to live life to its fullest with joy and happiness.

I remember how it felt to hear the words that I had a devastating illness. From that moment on, choices were made on how to live the rest of my life. Do I want to fall apart, throw the hand of cards on the table, lay in bed all day with depression, make everyone around me miserable? Or, do I want to learn as much about the disease as possible, get up and make a plan for everyday, remember to smile and be nice to others, remember that the disease does not define me, not waste an extra moment of the remaining time in anger or self-pity? It is a choice. How are you going to play out your hand? NieNie made the decision very early in her recovery. She still had children to raise. What is your motivation to continue on and live well with a bad diagnosis?