7%

That was the title of the email that a friend sent me, that I am about to share with all of you {all 2.5 of you! LOL} I read it, and found it very profound, and LOVED it! So, instead of just mass emailing it, and proving myself to be one of the 7% of the population that would pass it on - to the joy of some and the annoyance of others - I'm postin' it on my blog!
Here goes!

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone...
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone.. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
10.When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion, Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone and everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give it time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back. 41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

I've high-lighted a few of my favorites with green . . . I think this is one smart lady!
Enjoy!

Look Up!

Many years ago I learned that looking for negative things is a no-brainer . . . there's LOTS of negatives out there! So, my challenge for myself, these last {many} days has been to LOOK, intently and seriously, for the positive! That can be a REAL challenge, when you've been laid off twice in 4 months!

Anyway . . . I am truly blessed in so many ways, and to me, money is just a necessary evil in life, so I can't make it my obsession or my primary concern! Yes, things are tight, but hey, when GREAT things happen, like getting my DirectTV service back for pennies on the dollar of what I owe, I gotta be happy! {I don't watch a LOT, but what I do watch, I was missing terribly!!}

So many people have been so supportive and helpful and prayer goes a LONG way - thank you so much! So looking up - to Heavenly Father, to see the beauty in this world His hands have made, to see hope, is what I have to remember to do!

And, like a new favorite {country} song of mine says, "Sounds like life to me, plain old destiny - Yeah the only thing for certain is uncertainty! You gotta hold on tight, just enjoy the ride! Get used to all this unpredictability! Sounds like life to me!"

Sometimes life is just another 4-letter word, but it is the greatest gift that we've got and making the best of each situation is where the challenge lies. Keep looking up, for rainbows and showers! ♥

Though Deepening Trials . . .

Wow, I don't know that I have ever experienced "deepening trials" before. . . . but today I can say that I understand EXACTLY what that phrase means!

Yesterday afternoon, while at my new, gonna be permanent full-time job, my manager came into my office to talk to me. She closed the door -- NOT a good sign, but I was optimistic! Then, she proceeded to tell me that the upper management had a big budget meeting the day before, and while the Tempe location is doing fine, two others are not, and so everybody has to do what they can to cut back. So, the natural, FIRST choice -- cut all temps!

She was as surprised as I was, because I had already done the drug screen! The 20th was to be my first official day as an employee there . . .

Ya, deepening trial #1!

{And, I will say here, that we were just starting to get all the wolves at the door AWAY from the door, and were almost there, when this happened!}

Then, Jorge tells me, last evening at 6:30 pm, as I am leaving to watch Michelle's girls, while they go to a baseball game, "I think I need to go to the hospital . . . I feel very bad!" He has been feeling NOT himself for about 6 weeks, and 3 weeks ago, he went to a free health screen at one of those mini clinics that Walgreen's has. At that visit, the nurse practitioner told him that she didn't understand how he was sitting in front of her, and NOT in the hospital, because his blood sugar level was 394!!

So, when that happened, I scrambled to get the health insurance through the temporary agency that is currently my employer, so that he could go to the doctor, and get on some meds, get a diet plan, and be fine. Well, he never did go . . .

Fast forward to last night - so, we call the 24 hour nurse hotline, and ask for a nurse that speaks Spanish, to call us back. Meanwhile he tells me to go ahead and go to Michelle's. So, the nurse calls back, Jorge tells her his symptoms, {one of them being the fact that he has lost 40 lbs in 3 weeks!!} and she says, "you need to go to the Emergency room!"

So, thankfully Peter and Michelle were more than understanding, and I was off the hook for babysitting. I returned to the house, picked Jorge up, and we were off to the ER at Banner Desert.

In triage, the place where they do a quick pre-exam, they did a reading of his blood sugar; the machine doesn't read above 500. So, after waiting a few minutes, the machine, because it doesn't have a number to describe his level, gives us a "critically high" reading. You would be amazed what kind of response that gets you, in the ER!! None of this waiting 2 and 3 hours stuff, man! They took us right back to the pre-screening room.

After some initial info for the nurse, the Dr. came and spoke to Jorge; then within 20 minutes more, he was sitting in the Procedure area, with an IV drip of insulin.

So, long story short -- tonight he is spending night #2 in the hospital. We are hoping that he will be able to come home tomorrow, but his blood sugar has to be between 80 and 100 before the Dr. will consider sending him home.

I tried to stick it out, all night with him last night, {we didn't get up to a room until 2:40 am -- I guess they were busy last night!} but I couldn't get comfortable in the chair. Yes, it does recline, but still, not my bed! So, I left there at 4 am, and came home and slept for a few hours. Then, I got up, showered, and went back to the hospital, where I spend most of my day. I did leave to run a few errands, while he was asleep, but otherwise, that is where I was.

Preservation of life really is more important than a job, but shove them both together in my bucket of worries -- WOW!!

I'm looking for silver linings, though, in those storm clouds!! They gotta be there somewhere!

And, I've already sent out 8 resumes, and told my rep at the temp agency that I'll take anything, a day job, a week . . . I just can't go without $$$!

Please keep the Zapata family in your prayers! I know there is strength in numbers, especially when it comes to faith and prayer! ♥