Finding Perspective

What a week in the DC area! 

• Snow and ice took out power in over 359,000 homes.  In my county, 100,000 people still do not have power.  (yep, I'm included)
• A homeless man died outside of my friend's office building just this morning 
• People spent over 7 hours in their cars trying to get home, only some were able to get a hotel
• My dad is in the hospital after a fall and probably heading to rehab/PT before he can go home again

Why do I mention all of this on my blog? Perspective is why.  We are lucky for what we have!  Today, I'm not going to write about how to eat healthier or exercise more.  Today is about keeping your head up in the face of adversity.  I've been struggling with this all week, but I like to think I'm doing okay.  Today is about staying positive while those around you may complain about the minor things.  Perspective keeps you level-headed for the major things. 

My 91 year-old Dad recited the poem below while we enjoyed a nice dinner at Cafe 1894 in Kensington, MD just a few weeks back.  1984 is fairly new and a quiet little place that feels more like a 1940's restaurant in the midst of the busy DC metro area.  Their website doesn't do them justice, but you should check out their food and atmosphere.  A true hidden gem in Kensington's Antique Row!

Ironically, that's the last nice dinner I shared with my dad before he had two bad falls.  Now, he's trying to find his will and strength to eat well, walk again and live independently.  It's amazing how fast life can turn around.  Now especially, I cherish the poem he recited by Rudyard Kipling:

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
 
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
 
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Enjoy your day, your weekend and your loved ones.