I am a perfectionist.  As such, I cannot stand to be behind or have something out of place.  The longer I live, the more I realize it is exceedingly difficult to always have everything the way one would want it.  For instance, I started this blog writing once a day. That was fine when I had a small child.  Since then I have had several gaps in my timeline.  All I can say is that life overwhelmed me and I could not make my own deadline.  I still grieve the loss of my parents every single day.  My father passed when I was 28 years old, and my folks were married for 30 years.  They were together for much longer, but my father served two terms (eight years) in Korea.  I started this blog almost a year to the day that my mother passed.  I chose Thanksgiving day to go live with my blog to show gratitude.  My father stressed to always be grateful.  In my overwhelming sadness over becoming an orphan, I strived to seek what I was grateful for.  I was married after almost 36 years of being single and blessed with a child genetically all ours (after two rounds of in-vitro) at the age of 41.  I realize that everyone goes through struggles.  And it does not seem fair that some struggle more than others.  Right now I wish I were 30 pounds thinner.  I wish my house was immaculate.  I wish I were able to make meals from scratch every night.  I wish I exercised faithfully for an hour each day.  I wish my beloved blog did not have time gaps.  These are all incredibly painful things to confess.  Why do I even write this blog?  I wanted to inspire others but I also know it was to try and help myself.  The English writer and activist Walter Savage Landor once said, “We are no longer happy so long as we wish to be happier.”  Perhaps the greatest life lesson my father taught me was to always strive to be happy.  Be happy when you do well; be happy when things did not go well.  Be happy!  If you are sad — search for the positive.  If you are lonely, seek to help others.  If you are in a very bad financial situation, he taught me to remember it could always be worse.  It has been my fervent hope that anyone who reads this will be blessed, comforted, or inspired in some way.  I hope that by admitting my own failures and shortcomings it may serve to help someone else.  We all struggle; but we can all also remember to stretch ourselves to reach out to aid others — and to be happy!