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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Happiness is a decision...

That headline appeared in the this month's Ladies Home Journal as a quote from Michael J. Fox. I remember watching Michael as Alex P. Keaton on the show Family Ties and later in his movie roles in the Back to the Future movies, and in his last series role Spin City. Michael's battle with Parkinson’s disease is also well documented. It's a testament to his character to make that statement and discuss his own choice to be happy, given his situation.

For whatever strange reason I also thought about Steven Hawking. Here is a man who was healthy until he was 21, when a motor neurological disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [or ALS] - similar to Lou Gehring's disease literally robbed him of his body. Yet he went on to become one of the premier scientists of our time, a renowned astrophysics expert. He made the choice to be happy with what he has.

So, when I get down every now and then and start whining about things, I have to remind myself about all that I have to be happy about - a great wife, a nice home, wonderful children and now grand children, a faithful dog and so much more. The really nice thing is that I have those things, whether I have much money or not. Sure times are tough right now in the real estate field, but I'm surviving and I've got some great young customers to help find their first homes and a few my age to help find retirement homes for; so, I'm keeping busy. I've got a few owner-occupied homes listed and a few more in the queue. I missed the REO wave, but I'm not going to let then bother me. I've made my decision and I choose to be happy! What have you chosen?

Photos from Wikipedia.

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