I'll be honest...it is Sunday morning and I am feeling really lousy. (If you don't know the word lousy, it means very bad indeed..). I have spent most of the night coughing, my throat and my ears are on fire and my neck and shoulders feel as though I have spent the night fighting with a professional boxer. In fact I was not well enough yesterday to even think about going to the tennis in the evening, so I stayed at the hotel with Minttu. I watched a bit of English television and read the newspapers. I started off feeling a bit sorry for myself because I felt so ill, but then I found three stories in the news, and all of them were inspirational in different ways. I thought I would share them with you....especially if you are feeling ill too, or are otherwise having a miserable morning.
The first was the funeral of Whitney Houston which was broadcast yesterday. Although it was obviously a sad occasion, the whole spirit of the event was one of joy and celebration. I loved the fact that even though the service was being shown to the whole world, those present were not constrained by rules and regulations and timings. They remained spontaneous - saying and singing exactly as they felt appropriate for Whitney and those there to mourn her...not for the press or the television audience. The artists who performed could have chosen commercial hits, or their latest release in order to promote it, but they didn't, they chose songs that Whitney would have appreciated and which had a meaning to the people from her church. The whole funeral felt very authentic, and I found that inspiring. Whitney was obviously a worldwide celebrity, so neither her life nor her funeral can be compared to those of most people, but there was one theme that was common to us all. We will all die in the end. So it occurred to me that we should take the opportunity whilst we are still alive to tell the people we care about what we think of them. As human beings we are good at thinking of kind things to say once someone has passed away, but perhaps it would be even more valuable to say those things direct, when they are still here to hear them. My uncle, Pentti Koivula in Lumijoki, is celebrating his 88th birthday today - so I am certainly going to take the opportunity to give him a ring and tell him how much I love him. He is still here, so I can. Just something to think about.
The second story is about a British couple who have just come back to the UK after spending 36 years sailing around the world. In June 1976 Bill Cooper (who is now 83) decided on the way back from his job one afternoon in London that he had enough. That was it - he didn't like his job, and he didn't want to waste anymore of his life doing it. So he quit. Just like that, with one phone call. He and his wife Laurel (now 82) sold their home, gave some of the money to their children and used the rest to buy a boat. They then spent the next 36 years doing exactly what they felt like doing...seeing the world. They visited 45 countries and had many adventures, and as Laurel Cooper said yesterday when she was interviewed "I've had a wonderful life and I wouldn't change any of it." Now that is what I call really living! The couple have now returned to live in the UK due to ill health, but now in their eighties, they do not have a single regret about life and can really say that they lived life to the maximum. There must be a lesson in there for us all somewhere. We need to find our dream and then just go and live it, however daunting that may feel.
The final story that I found truely inspiring was about the Swedish man who was discovered in his car after being trapped in the snow for more than two months. I can't begin to imagine how it must feel to live in those conditions and without food for so long, but the fact that he survived and that he is still here to tell the tale shows what an incredible will to survive he must have. Others would surely have given up in the same circumstances, but whoever he is, this man must have a love for life that saw him through it all and helped him survive those horrendous circumstances.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17088173
So that's it really, this is what I wanted to share with you this morning. In physical terms I am not feeling great today, but all of these stories in their own way have made me feel how lucky I am to be alive. I have had the opportunity to travel, I have a home in Somero I am looking forward to going back to and a baby whose smile lights up the world. There are many reasons to be positive about life...even if we sometimes feel ill, at least we are still here...and I genuinely believe we should do our best to profit from every moment. Have a wonderful Sunday!
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