Family Treasures and Troubles

"In this world, whose family is there without blemish? Who is free from sickness and grief? Who is forever happy?" Chanakya

My 9 year old nephew Alex is having more surgery tomorrow. Its a follow up operation to check out the 12 VHL tumors removed from his eyes the day before Thanksgiving.

As you might imagine, we're all pretty stressed. On top of everything, his 7 year old sister fell down the steps today and tore some ligaments in her ankle. She's on crutches, not so easy for a little kid ... harder on the adults who now have to help two kids deal.

And in case that's not enough, my Dad's having an emergency endoscopy and colonoscopy tomorrow in Florida.

Coincidentally somebody just sent me an email on coping with burdens. It offers understanding and humor, both of which our family could use at the moment.

On 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.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* 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 to serve as a warning 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.

* Remember that the second mouse gets the cheese.

* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may only be one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

* We can learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and they're all different colors -- but they all have to live in the same box. And when they work together, they can create something really beautiful.