Keeping a Calendar.

When you get a little older, the idea of presents for your birthday changes. Take, for example, my wife, whose birthday was June 5. What she wanted more than anything was something called a Skylight Calendar, which is sort of a digital calendar that displays each person in the family’s schedule.

When we got it, I was so happy because she was happy. But, as time goes by, i have come to depend on the calendar, not only to remind me of appointments we have, but to look forward to things in my life.

As I am still on short term disability, and not scheduled to return to work until October, there is a tendency for the days to flow into each other, and, without something to look forward to, things can start to get a little gloomy.

But the truth is, I rarely have days where there’s nothing happening, and this calendar serves as a visual aid to let me know what there is to look forward to.

I was always someone who needed something to look forward to to feel like I was moving forward in life, and this thing really helps my outlook.

I feel like this is an extended ad for Skylight, but what I really wanted to say was that it’s important to have stuff to look forward to in your life, not only to break up the monotony of the days, but also to understand that you’re still vital, and there’s still so much going on.

I feel like it would be easy for me to just let it all flow past me. After all, I have a television, a video game system, and pets to keep me occupied. It’s a million degrees outside, and I have always disliked summer.

But I don’t want to be that person anymore. Living my bonus life means embracing all kinds of things. It means filling my calendar. And it means keeping those appointments with doctors (something I was terrible at before), but also with friends and family and social obligations.

And when I do these things, I am always happy I did. It always turns out to be worth the effort.

But mostly, when I’m feeling a little down, I just look at that bright calendar on my kitchen island and think about all of the things I have to look forward to, and I am grateful.

Forever grateful.

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As always, if you have it in you, please give a thought to donating time or money to Hospice Austin. They do amazing work for people who are going through the hardest thing a person can face.

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