Trying to stay positive these days is a work in progress. It's not easy to be upbeat and cheerful these past few months, and some days I feel like a real clown. You know the old song, "the tears of a clown when no one's around." That's me! But I'm trying my best not to let it ruin my day or upset our lives. I've had more than one person tell me I should be on an anti-depressant, but I avoid medications like the plague. Everything has numerous side affects, so forget that. I don't even take Tylenol unless I have a headache so bad that it makes me sick to my stomach, and I'm not into alcohol to drown my pain or problems, so that leaves me to figure out how best to deal with them.

Rough weekends bring rough Monday mornings and I decided I wasn't going to let it ruin my day. I left Gary with Kelly and went to the casino for breakfast. I watched a little old man shuffle in with his walker and sit near me. I asked the waitress for his ticket and I paid for his breakfast without him knowing until well after I had left. I do that often when I'm feeling down - I try to boost someone else's spirits or put a smile on their face on days when I don't feel like smiling. It costs so little and does so much to make me feel better the rest of the day.

I also made plans to book that trip to Hawaii that Sue (your wonderful chat host) and I have been talking about for years. I spent half the day on Monday, checking out airfares, hotels and rental cars and finally got my reservations all confirmed. I finally wised up and got travel insurance for the trip this time, as the last two times I booked airfare and had to cancel, I lost out on over $800. I could have used the Delta Airline credit for the Hawaii trip, but they didn't have a direct flight and I didn't think I could tolerate a 3 hour layover with plane change in Los Angeles. It appears that if I'm ever going to use it before March 7th, I'll have to change planes somewhere unless I want to fly to Salt Lake City - which isn't currently on my bucket list. lol I'm so looking forward to this vacation - it will be my first real vacation from caregiving since 2013 when I went to meet up with an old high school friend in Vegas.

Whatever works to boost your spirits........just do it!! Life is too short, and who knows when the opportunity will come around again!!

Sarah