Today I turned 44. I remember a few years ago when I asked a friend much older than me “what can you teach me about life that due to my age I haven’t learned yet?” He did not have an answer but now I have mine: “Life is simple if we have the right attitude”. It is our mind that loves to create a different “reality” that complicates things.

Newborns and toddlers play, discover their new world, amaze themselves with the most simple things and we enjoy watching them being pure. We as adults have lost the ability to enjoy the simple things. Every day, we leave our homes in a hurry and forget to look up and see the magnificence of the creation. We forget to pay attention to those little things that now we take for granted. We have the ability to touch, to see, to smell to feel and to love but we chose to ignore it! We have lost our innocence.

In the past years, I have seen friends that I thought were healthy and young passed away. Watching them die opened my eyes to the reality that the only thing we have for sure is our present. Today my friend Gerardo posted on his Facebook what I think summarizes how I feel today: “Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.” ~ Denis Waitley

In the past year I also lost two of my faithful companions: Pooh and Lucky. Both die of cancer at 14. They both taught me a lesson. Live fully every single day you are given! Lucky and Pooh enjoyed their walk until their final days. Slowly they stood up and walked to their favorite place. They both enjoyed the grass under their feet and Lucky even rolled on the grass while the sprinklers were going off. He enjoyed every drop of water on his fur. Then he stood up and run towards Terry (as fast as his legs allowed him) and gave him a tail wag. The next day he left us.

So from now on I plan to enjoy every day as it was my last. Never forgetting how blessed I am, appreciating my beautiful family and friends, loving my beautiful pets, being grateful for their unconditional love. Appreciating my health and the miracle of being able to feel and love.

Thank you to all of you that made and still are making my day special. I love every time my phone beeps because it reminds me how loved I am. Thank you for every message, every hug, every smile, every Kit Kat and every plane ticket I got today

One more thing, I have learned that real love comes unexpected. It may not even match your list of must haves or must not. It shows up one day and it may be the opposite of what you expected, you cannot explain it with words, but you know that your heart has recognized it.

I leave you today with one of my favorite quotes. And I thank you from my heart for an awesome day!

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. -Helen Keller