Unexpected Excitement

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

Desiderata,   © Max Ehrmann 1927

     I have presumed gracefully surrendering the things of youth. to be tinged forever with a requisite grief, and loss, and antithetical to celebration, much less joy.  This may seem quite strange.  Never have I been a person, who longed for my younger days as being such that I wanted to return to them indefinitely.  That is not to condemn them either.
     Today, I learned that my wheelchair is in Minnesota on a truck, and will be delivered shortly.  We shall see  what the precise definition of "shortly" is, but, at this point, I am optimistic that it will be sooner rather than later.
     When waiting seemed endless, I told people that I had forgotten where it was that I wanted to go once I do get wheels.  To the grocery store.  Swimming.  The rest is beyond my immediate imaginings.  
     Two pictures in my home remind me to continue to imagine.  There is a picture of a six-year-old little girl dressed in a pink tutu, pink tights, and a pink and purple parasol.  Surrounding her were kids sitting in wheelchairs.  The little girl concentrated on the beam.  She had no ounce of doubt.  She could be a ballerina.  That ballerina took her first steps in March 1966.  Forty years later, that ballerina donned a black cap and gown, with a yellow and purple hood.  Proudly, she shook hands with the college president.  That moment is captured--framed--for me to remember always.  It wasn't as hard as I imagined it might be.  Grades were not the object.  In fact, the worse I felt physically, the better were my grades, and the more rewarding my learning.
   As a dear friend said, "Do it for the sheer joy of learning."  Now what? "Do it for the sheer joy of living?"