The World of Grandpa Don

To Be Any Better

"To attain the highest good of true man and womanhood, simply do your honest best. 
God, with joy, will do the rest."

James Whitcomb Riley

As I entered church on Sunday morning a friend greeted me with the usual "How are you Don?". When I responded, "To be any better I would have to be in Heaven!", he looked at me as if I had two heads or maybe no head at all. 

Oh sure, I am out of shape (understatement of the century) and have aches and pains. I'm taking more pills than I can count and I need a lot of help with a lot of things. But I am not deluding myself into believing that some morning I am going to wake up in prefect health and able to function like a 20 year old again. I haven't given up but this is about as good as it is going to be and I am sure glad it is not worse. If I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself but this is it and I will live with it. And so, if I wake up some morning with no pain, feeling like a 20 year old, I'll know I have died and gone to heaven.

In the mean time there is no point in complaining about the state of my health as if it is some temporary thing. God has been exceptionally good to me in that I can afford to hire others to do many of the things that I once did for myself. He has also blessed me with family, friends and neighbors who lend a hand when needed. 

So, if you hear me say "To be any better I would have to be in Heaven!", don't think I have lost it. Just know that you are talking to someone who has learned to be satisfied with life as it is right now and who will deal with it as he finds it. He also looks forward to the time when he wakes up feeling like a 20 year old.

It is all about being satisfied with the situation in which you find yourself at the moment. Not that you would not want things to be better and not that you won't try to make things better, but putting yourself in a state of mind that says, this is reality and I must make the best of it.

Don Plefka
05/12/04