Life May Not Be The Party We Hoped For

One of my father's favorite people was his neighbor, who lives across the street, Mr. Cunningham. My father did numerous odd jobs for his friend, "Mr. C", and now that my father is no longer with us physically, my son has taken to helping out our neighbor.

Mr. Cunningham is now 90, and I can count on one hand the number of times I was in the presence of his wife Aileen, who passed late last year. She was a direct, firm, sincere, and loving spirit, I gathered all this in just those few occasions that we spent together.

Shortly after my father passed away, I received a gift from the Cunningham's, attached to the gift was a hand written note, on a small piece of stationary, and it simply read, 

"Life may not always be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!" 

I saved that piece of paper, and every once in a while, I pull it out and look at it. I see her smiling as she writes the short note, words so few, with a meaning so big.

It's true, life isn't the party I always thought it would be. Life has been up and down, high and low, long and short, to and fro. Life has been joy and happiness, heartaches and pain; it's been sunshine and rainbows, after days of clouds and rain. Dance Anyway!

Life is what you make it, heaven and hell your experiences be, take the time to make the best of it, and fewer will your worries be. Appreciate the best things in life, take self inventory and you will see, the best things are all around you, and you were born to be free, so Dance Anyway!

In memory of our friend, Mrs. Alleen Cunningham, dancing with us in life!