The Walk of Life

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit, they would warn their friends not to leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing.

Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease....in fact; she was just sure it was fatal.

She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him! The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.

Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap.

Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.

When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her bod y felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love.

Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day. It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky - He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

Remember......live life every day to the fullest. Each minute is a Blessing. Remember that.....the people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most Credentials, the most Money, or the most Awards. They are the ones that care for us and give us their time!

I would like some dog-lovers to share some of their own stories about their pets!

• Kess


• Lily Ruth


• Clonic

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, 'Common Sense' who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

• Knowing when to come in out of the rain.


• Why the early bird gets the worm.


• Life isn't fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

• Reports of a 6-year old boy charged with sexual harassment by kissing a classmate.


• Teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch.


• And a teacher fired for lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little on her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by

• His parents, Truth and Trust.


• His wife, Discretion,


• His daughter, Responsibility,


• And his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;

• I know My Rights,


• I want It Now;


• Someone Else Is To Blame;


• I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you remember him, share with others. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

INSTALLING HUSBAND.

A desperate housewife writes to the Technical Support Guy,

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate House-wife.

DEAR Desperate House-wife,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5..0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System..

Please enter command: "I thought you loved me.html" and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5..

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources..)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1..0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.

We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.

Good Luck Madam!

Tech Support

Life is busy, busy, busy. Like the windmills that go round and round for many people. It is all a predictable cycle of waking-up, going to work, return home, going to bed and then the cycle repeating itself.

Some blame it on the demands in life. As a student the studies, home-work, tuition and exams. As a working adult it's the 'rat race' of chasing after the 'cheese' and thus the famous Book 'Who Moved The Cheese'. As a married person, the demands of providing for the family, house, car and then children and their education etc.

Although we console ourselves of having taken the usual annual leave for a short hectic family holiday, thus thinking that we indeed have rested and recharged! However honestly I think very few indeed really feel rested and charged-up!

Below is something wrote by someone which I think speaks loudly to us who are busy chasing the dream of providing and having a good life for ourselves or our families. Read what it says there and ponder on it. Perhaps it can be some sort of wake-up call for many! Cheers!

It seems there is an apparant lack of good, quality Leaders in our Modern World. The moral failures of so many World Leaders, Corporate Leaders and in our Homes and Families is an indictment on our present day value system. The story below somehow tells us why there is this lack of quality leaders today.

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by--still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"

Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

• If you plant honesty, You will reap trust.


• If you plant goodness, You will reap friends.


• If you plant humility, You will reap greatness.


• If you plant perseverance, You will reap victory.


• If you plant consideration, You will reap harmony.


• If you plant hard work, You will reap success.


• If you plant forgiveness, You will reap reconciliation.


• If you plant openness, You will reap intimacy.


• If you plant patience, You will reap improvements.


• If you plant faith, You will reap miracles.

But,

• If you plant dishonesty, You will reap distrust.


• If you plant selfishness, You will reap loneliness.


• If you plant pride, You will reap destruction.


• If you plant envy, You will reap trouble.


• If you plant laziness, You will reap stagnation.


• If you plant bitterness, You will reap isolation.


• If you plant greed, You will reap loss.


• If you plant gossip, You will reap enemies.


• If you plant worries, You will reap wrinkles.


• If you plant sin, You will reap guilt.

Shouldn't we be very careful of what we plant now, it will determine what we will reap tomorrow. The seeds we now scatter, will make life worse or better for our lives or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, we will enjoy the fruits, or we will pay for the choices we plant today. Nowadays, is anyone believing this?