Good Afternoon!

When we talk about joyful moments in life, sometimes you don't have to look very far to take one in. Last night, shortly after 11, I stepped out on our back deck for a peaceful moment and to breath the fresh clean air without the sights and sounds of all the passing traffic. I looked up and was stunned to see not only a full moon, but one with a ring around it....something like I have never seen before. Of course, I had to get online right away to find out what causes this stunning effect, as I have never seen it before. Here is what I found.

Rings around the moon are caused when moonlight passes through thin clouds of ice crystals high in Earth's atmosphere. As moonlight passes through the ice crystals, it is bent in a way similar to light passing through a lens. The shape of the ice crystals causes the moonlight to be focused into a ring. This is similar to the way water droplets in the lower atmosphere can bend sunlight to create a rainbow.

Is that cool or what? Sometimes the beauty of God's earth just stuns me....and I love to take a few moments and take it all in....deep breath, and just be grateful for all I have been given and blessed with.

Today, I started my "new and improved" healthy living and eating. I am back to eating the LA way...as that worked so very well for me before. I plan to keep you all in the loop...as you are now my accountability partners...(thank you by the way!) I am also working on trying to exercise, which becomes very tricky with some of my physical limitations. I try not to get all bummed out about it, as some of you may remember what an exercise buff I was before. SO, the "new way of living" goals are what is on my plate for today. I heard a song earlier today, and the first line of it hit straight to how I feel...."I've been traveling on this road so long, just trying to make my way back home, the old me is dead and gone, dead and gone."

This is very true for me. Once you have had cancer, nothing and I do mean NOTHING is ever the same again. Your prospective on life, and all aspects of it changes. When you reach that pinnacle point where it is time to make the next step, you realize you mourn for the life you once had, but you are so very grateful to be able to carve out and go down a different path. While it seem like the road bumps in life are actually potholes that might just open up and swallow you whole, you realize that they simply are speed bumps, meant to slow you down and make you think, and possible continue down the same road, but maybe, just maybe they are there to take you down a different path, one you didn't even realize was there.

I choose today to view all of this as life granted me the chance to explore the new path, and find ways with my "new life" to achieve things I may not have thought of before...and when I see an obstacle in front of me, I will simply stop, take a look around and see what I might have missed if I had hurried through that particular journey.

I hope you all enjoy the picture, and have a JOYFUL day!

Julie