My mom gave me Heaven is Here for Easter.
I just finished it this morning while our beautiful baby boy was/still is sleeping. I am humbled. The book was a very spiritual experience for me. I want to hold on to the feeling I have right now, forever. The spirit is close. I hope to create a home where the spirit can always be close.
When Landon & I first started dating we were talking about some of our favorite topics in church lessons. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were on University Avenue passing by my Provo High School. Costa Vida was to our right.
"Trials." I blurted out. "Yes. I loved to talk about trials and overcoming trials, and enduring trials." The love for this topic had come from my experiences a few years prior. My senior year of high school was and forever will be the darkest time in my life. When Landon and I started our courtship, I was still healing from the scars I had gained from that year. So trials was my answer.
I remember the long an awkward pause when I said that. Almost as if Landon didn't approve. He nodded his head and said interesting, then changed the subject to exercising. (Yes we were in the "lets get to know each other so we can get married" stage.)
Over the past 3 years, i've learned to understand why Landon paused. Landon is an ever optimistic person. He believes, truly believes, that happiness is always attainable. He gets this from his mother. Who--in my observations--hasn't been without a smile from the first day we met. I'm happy to report that Landon and his mother have rubbed off on me. I've always been a happy person, but they made me want to be even more happy.
In this book, Stephanie states,
"At first I thought stubbornly that the only thing that would make me happy was for life to look like it did before the accident. But no one could give that to me, and no one else could make me happy. Happiness was my choice, and though it is hard won, I am the only person who can stand in the way of it. As I gradually accepted my responsibility to choose happiness every day, I rediscovered the beautiful life I had always wanted. I still had to remind myself to choose happiness almost every morning when I wake up in pain, and I expect I will need reminding throughout my life, but the amazing thing is the more I make the choice to see and feel joy, the more joy there is to see and to feel."I believe this. It is a choice. I am grateful for yet another testament of it. And coming from someone that had so much to be unhappy about I think to myself, "If she can do it, I can."
In a world that is engulfed in a swirl a negativity and complaints. I hope I can join the Landon's, Trudy's, and Stephanie's with positivity and hope. Life doesn't have to be bleak. Day to day tasks don't need to be burdens. It is all a choice. And I am choosing to celebrate every moment.
I will choose to be happy.
Thank you Stephanie Nielson for your inspiring story.
