Waking up to a life less ordinary
I OPENED my eyes this morning to see the words 'It's a Wonderful Life' emblazoned in red letters upon my bedroom wall.
I hadn't been burgled and 'graffitised' by a contented vandal, I was waking up for the first time to a new picture I'd hung in my boudoir. I'm a great fan of vintage movie posters and I've recently acquired one depicting my favourite film, namely
It's a Wonderful Life.
Is it? I asked myself aloud as I rolled over in bed and savoured one last loving embrace with my duvet.
Is it really a wonderful life? I pondered. Could I honestly say my life is wonderful?
We seem to plod through the days without really thinking about our lives. Sometimes when we are actually living in the circumstances we have always wanted to create it's as though we no longer notice that we have actually achieved our wishes. This struck me as I stared up at the ceiling. I have been feeling a bit low lately as I struggle yet again with the spectre of Alzheimer's disease. It consumed my mother five years ago and now it is chewing its way through my father's brain. It's difficult to watch it all over again and my parents' fate has made me shift focus away from those moments that have been really special to me.
It's been a hard old slog living with this disease twice but during its course some wonderful things have happened. As my mother was leaving my life, my first love came walking back into it. After spending many years apart we finally married. As my father was developing Alzheimer's I received the gift of my little son at the ripe old age of 40. He exploded into my life in a bouncing bundle of curls, his sapphire blue eyes fixed on me no matter where I turned, and yes, motherhood has been a wonderful experience even in the midst of some spectacular toddler tantrums.
But looking after my father and trying to raise my son took its toll and I ended up collapsing with exhaustion, forcing my dad to be taken into temporary respite care. That has been the hardest day of my life to date, watching him go and having no control to bring him back as I was too physically ill. Yet again life balanced itself out the way I have started to see it does. It has its own way of handing you a plus and a minus in the same hand of cards it deals us.
It was in respite care that we discovered music therapy and the fact that songs can bring back memories of my mother to dad. He no longer has the power of speech but when he hears Moonlight Serenade, which was my parents special song, he cries as her memory is evoked for him. And again life took a funny turn as a thought came to me over a fish supper that it might be a good idea if someone put together a book of celebrity musical memories, special songs that evoke memories for the rich and famous and sold it, with the proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Society. But how would you even begin to put a project like that together? Who would publish it? I had no clue but the more I thought about it I knew in my heart that this really was a good idea and I needed to at least try it. I knew nothing of publishing or how to contact celebrities. I fumbled around the internet searching for help and the strangest thing happened. As I began to reach out to others for guidance, the whole thing began to come together; helping hands from strangers pointed me in all the right directions. Within three hours of pitching my idea via e-mail to my first publisher, whom had quite clearly stated on their website they were accepting no more submissions, I had a publishing contract! I almost fainted when I got the call and as I began the slow process of trying to get celebs to take part, kind people offered to put me in touch with others who could help. I now have almost one hundred celebrities, including Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Graham Norton, Michael Parkinson, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Lord Jeffrey Archer, Sir Alex Ferguson, Barbara Windsor, Joan Collins, Alan Bennett, and a host of other stars, sharing their memories in this book that was created because of the suffering my parents endured at the hands of this cruel disease, yet the proceeds will hopefully help others in the same position when it is published next July.
But back to the writing on my wall that started this whole train of thought. No, it’s not always a wonderful life, but moments of it can be. There are times of sweet euphoria never to be forgotten and they are usually the times when we make a decision to take some action and change things. It’s a wonderful feeling to see an idea succeed, especially one that seems so impossible you almost give up before you begin.
Is there something that would make your life feel wonderful? Something you would love to try but haven’t the nerve? Why don’t you have a go anyway. Don’t worry if all the resources you feel you need are not at hand. Start the ball rolling, take a chance; it could turn out to be something that can only be described as some kind of wonderful.
Don’t be afraid to try something that‘s new to you, remember; professionals built The Titanic, amateurs built the ark!
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Weather for Belfast
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
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