Thoughts over Coffee by the Sea

My husband says, when his black Americano turns out to be really bad; burnt, "Cream and sugar are the great equalizers."

And so it is with attitude and perspective -- they are great equalizers in a disease that is really bad and burning my joints through with fiery inflammation. Leave it alone and it's really bad, add the great equalizers of a good attitude and positivity and the cup of disease is drinkable.

If this disease is going to make things worse for me physically, I need it to make me better some other way, so I choose, everyday, to stay as positive as I can. To focus on the beauty of the present, wherever I can find it.

I may not be able to find any beauty in the fact that my mobility is adversely effected, so instead I focus on the sound of sea gulls calling, foghorns bellowing, the feel of hot sun on my aching back, that my hands work to use this pen, the cool breeze on my bare feet, the smell of salt in the sea air; that my view from this cafe's sidewalk is brilliant blue dynamic ocean, rippling and ever-changing with the blue sky reflecting off it, making shimmery silver areas of surface and tide. Puffy white clouds punctuate the sky like polka dots on indigo fabric. A planter box of blooming flowers grow in the midst of contrasting concrete.

I have a fever today and I'm tired and I had the option of staying home and taking a nap, but I chose to go out and sip a latte and see the ocean. When put like that, of course it sounds like an easy choice, but it's not always. Everyday there's at least once when I think, "I'm not sure I can do that." But everyday I say, "I'll try."