Encouragement vs Inspirational

I must report to you, dear reader, that the word "inspirational" was never uttered during lunch yesterday, much to my relief! Instead, I was deeply touched by a very thoughtful note and small gift of a beaded silver bracelet with one of my favorite words imprinted into the silver disc: Earth Abides. That was the title of a book I read a long time ago about a virus killing most of the people in the world and the struggles to begin again. It is also a quote from the bible: Generations come and generations go but the earth abides. Mother nature always wins. Life continues.

Sue is the wife of a dear friend we have known since he was 16-years old. He is now retired! She has been struggling with lupus for eight years though she thinks she showed symptoms as early as 10-years old. About a year ago, she was tired. Tired of all the pain meds that were fogging her brain. Tired of the weight she had gained laying in bed and with the prednisone. Tired of not being a part of her family's life. Just tired of if all.

She took control, at long last. She started by reducing her pain medications. Then reducing them so more. She began to watch what she ate. She found that if she made the bed each morning, she would not fall back into it. She put makeup on and got dressed and stayed downstairs with the rest of the family during the days. Since she was off most of the pain medications, she was allowed to finally drive! She became independent again. She has lost 90 pounds so far.

Apparently, while she was struggling with all of this and through the past years, I said the right things at the right time. But I wonder if it was that she actually heard what I was saying. I give her full credit. She is still in so much pain but refuses to fall to the medications. I find that remarkable. Pain is a whole other ballgame.

We shared lunch, our recent struggles and stories of our children and our husbands. It was lovely.

I must share part of her note to me:
"You always seemed to know just what to say to bring me back up, to keep me fighting! You helped me see the good in the bad. You have been my light shining at the tunnels end, encouraging me to keep taking baby steps if that's all I could, I'd still reach my goal. You have been such a blessing in my life."

And that, dear reader is what I wish this blog does of anyone who reads it. I hope it offers encouragement to get up, live life regardless of the disease, be present and move forward. Life is good.