Guest Post from my online friend, Joe

 Joe, you always touch my heart and encourage me with your stories... I wait for them every Monday to appear in my inbox! And I appreciate that you always send me a thoughtful reply the next day; when I've sent you a message. Today I'm sharing this week's "story" on my blog including your email address.

Readers: If you'd like Joe's messages on Mondays, send him an email at joemazzella@frontier.com

THANK YOU

With Thanksgiving fast approaching I have been thinking of all the things 

I am thankful for in my life. The funny thing is that the things I am most thankful 

for aren’t things at all. It is all of the special people who have blessed my life 

over the years. I am so thankful for Mom, Dad, and Nana. We may not have 

had much growing up but one thing is certain. I always felt loved.

I always felt cared for. I always felt supported and encouraged by them all. I am 

so thankful for my two brothers, Eddie and Tony. Even though they were five 

and seven years older than me they often made time to play with their 

little brother. Yes, they may have picked on me from time to time but they 

always protected me as well. 

I learned a lot about growing up by watching them both. I am so thankful 

for my wonderful wife, Fonda. We may have grown apart and divorced 

but we also had 3 beautiful children who blessed our lives so much. 

And we remained friends through all these years to this day. I am so

thankful for my two sons, JJ and Casey. You guys may have come

into this world with mental disabilities but it was your spiritual 

abilities that taught me so much about how to live and how to 

Love. Because of you both I laugh more, smile more, and am closer to 

God. Because of you both my life is blessed with Joy every single day. 

I am so thankful for my daughter, Beth. You will never fully know how 

much your love has helped me and touched me over the years because 

words cannot express it. You are a true Earth Angel even if you don’t 

believe it yourself. I am so thankful for all of my friends, some who I 

see everyday and some who I’ve never met in person. Your kindness, 

encouragement, and support uplift my spirits always. And I am so 

thankful for all of my beloved pets over the years. I doubt I could

 love as openly and unconditionally as you loved me, but I do keep 

trying to learn from your example.

They say that if you could only say one prayer in this life: 

“Thank You!” would suffice. 

Let me say then: “Thank You, God for all those you have brought into my life”

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A.A.A.D.D.- KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!

 Easily distracted, hard to remain focused, not concentrating well this week, and thought about this poem by David Eig. Maybe you can relate to it also.

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder: 

Age-Activated Attention-Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought it up from the mailbox earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,
Put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
And notice that the can is full.

So, I decided to put the bills back
On the table and take out the garbage first...

But then I think,
Since I'm going to be near the mailbox
When I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my checkbook off the table,
And see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
So I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,
But first I need to push my Pepsi aside
So that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Pepsi is getting warm,
And I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi,
A vase of flowers on the counter
Catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and
Discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,
But first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,
Fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
But I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
So I decided to put it back in the den where it belongs,
But first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,
But quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table,
Get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to
Remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
The car isn't washed,
The bills aren't paid,
There is a warm can of
Pepsi sitting on the counter,
The flowers don't have enough water,
There is still only 1 check in my checkbook,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, 😉
And I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
And I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail....

Do me a favor
Forward this message to everyone you know,
Because I don't remember who I've sent it to.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!
P.S. I don't remember who sent it to me, so if it was you, I'm sorry. 

                                                                ~  David Eig

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