Re: Attitude

[Guest guest]

Mike

Thanks for the kind words. I just do what makes my life better and hope

that others can also make theirs better. I find myself motivated by

others. Right now Beth's trip to the NC mountains has me thinking.

ton, SC is such an incredibly beautiful area. I have a nephew who

lives there but I have never spent time there and haven't even been

there in the last 30 or 40 years.

I read your id of mangomaninparadise and know of the area you referred.

I think of South Florida as paradise myself. But the reality is that you

make wherever you are your own paradise.

Oh the compassion for the other diseases, I share with you. I see some

and just realize how lucky I am to have a disease that doesn't destroy

the brain and one that doesn't bring severe pain and suffering. We've

even had members here with other complications. Brett just crossed my

mind and how I wish he just had pulmonary fibrosis. I also think of my

age and when I see those so much younger I find it harder to complain. I

think of Kerry or Zena or Tina with their young children.

>

> Joyce has it right! Bruce should be a mentor to any of us who are

diagnosed with this disease. He lives life to the fullest yet still

manages through his daily emails to educate and lend support to those in

this group during their times of need I just got back from ton

S.C. where I went to lunch at Bubba Gumps. My wife bought me a t-shirt

(twas my birthday) that read my favorite saying from Forrest Gump -

" Mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what

you're gonna get. " One thing that having been diagnosed with IPF has

done to me is to create a greater compassion for my fellow man. Whenever

I am out and about I always see others who are far worse off than

myself. We all have our stories to tell. To go on living, you must

choose to either align yourself with loneliness or to brighten someone's

day. I choose the latter.

>

> Thanks for being there Bruce!

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> Mike

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