It Takes More Than Good Memory to Have Good Memories

Last night we ate at the Chinese restaurant in Booneville  called New China.  This was my fortune cookie message:

It takes more than good memory to have good memories.

I thought it was especially poignant at this particular time of my life.  I rarely ever get anything from a fortune cookie that even makes sense.  Tonight's typed message on the tiny strip of paper kind of gets you to thinking.

I have so many wonderful memories of Lynda and being Lynda's nana and as each day passes, I find myself with significantly less ability to remember things.  A person can have the most superb memory, yet have no good memories.  Good memories come from living life and in how we choose to accept the obstacles that come our way.  I love the quote that we see on everything now.

"Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain!"
Lynda and I danced every chance we got.  Even with the child abuse at Millcreek.  Even the huge differences in the abilities that Lynda returned with as opposed to the little girl she was before the seizure and stroke. Even though these events changed the direction of her life for the next 30 years.  We danced.  Not at first.  Not every day but we danced before the storm stopped raging.

 We danced because we were so thankful to God that He had spared her life.  We danced because satan could not take away our family's desire to make the best of a situation that we certainly had not planned for.  While the storm rages around each one of us at some time in our life, we can give up and never dance again. We can also just splash through the mud puddles and dance right in the middle of the storm. 

It takes more than good memory to have good memories.  I like that especially since my memory is not what it used to be when I was young,  It takes living life with a purpose to have good memories. They're most likely mixed in with some difficult or even terrifying memories.  In order to kept those good memories safe from being contaminated by the lies that satan would have us believe---we have to be willing to dance in less than perfect conditions.  That's when some of the best memories are made and often we find the storm ended while we were dancing.

It's been 2 months and 1 week since Lynda left all of the storms and danced into paradise.  I'm beginning to see opportunities to dance as I listen to the music of the good memories playing inside my heart.