My mom’s father died before I was born. Therefore, I only knew three of my grandparents. Unfortunately starting in 2002, I lost one grandparent with each New Year that came. These were the three hardest years of my life. Although this all began 5 years ago, it still affects me. I still cry while wishing to see my grandparents again. I miss their smiles, their jokes, their scent, and so much more.  

What hurts even more is that I didn’t get to say goodbye to any of my grandparents because of my immaturity and fear of death? The night before my Grandma Ringle died, she began talking about how scared she was that she might die to my other grandma. I couldn’t take it! I didn’t want to hear this. The next day she died, and I never got to say goodbye.

When my other grandma was taken away by ambulance, I was too scared to confront anyone or say goodbye. Also, when my grandpa was dying, I feared his state and also was too scared to say goodbye. I regret fearing to say goodbye. If I could take back the situation, I would. But, I can’t. I love and miss my grandparents sooooooo much.

I’ll be home in 14 days!!!

This past Thursday, November 8^th, I attended “Brittany Maier in Concert.” This concert, held in St. Joseph’s Hall and made possible through the St. Rose on-campus group, Best Buddies, allowed Brittany Maier to display her impeccable talent and ongoing motivation as a pianist. Brittany is an 18-year-old, blind, autistic, and mentally challenged girl with more personality and smile than one could imagine. As Brittany’s mother described her birth and childhood, I couldn’t help but cry as my heart broke for Brittany, her family, and all people with disabilities. Brittany was born four months premature, and she weighed less than two pounds causing her triple disability. However, as a blind child, she received many keyboards, and she started to show some remarkable and miraculous talent. Brittany can memorize any song after hearing it only three times. To make her story even more unheard of and extraordinary, Brittany does not use her pinkies or thumbs to play.  As I sat beside my best buddy, Samantha Michaels, I listened to Brittany play songs from the holiday season, Billy Joel, Josh Groban, Beethoven, The Phantom of the Opera, and Bette Midler. I literally had goose-bumps. No joke! She even knew all the words to every song. Her smile shined from ear to ear as she clapped and took pride in her own talent.  Brittany’s story was a miracle! 

So many people, including myself, are so caught up in material possessions that we forget about the simple things in life.  We take many of our privileges for granted. Yet, Brittany, who struggles with three disabilities, seems to take nothing for granted. Brittany Maier is living “the good life.”  She receives an abundance of love and support from her mother and other family members. Brittany’s happiness and the powerful sense of hope she spreads touches the lives of everyone she encounters.  Brittany has achieved “the good life!”

Throughout sophomore, junior, and senior year religion classes, the teacher would assign a different student each class to select the reading involved in the guided mediation.   Whenever I was chosen, it was almost a one hundred percent guarantee that my reading was from Story People. Everybody in the class including my teacher would always enjoy and comment on the sometimes paradoxical yet sometimes straight forward short stories that generated huge discussions.

From time to time, whenever I get the chance, I still browse through the various stories on the website. Yesterday happened to be one of those days. The following story reminded me of the good life:

I’m just going to hide here in this paper bag until death comes, she said. It could be a long time, I said. There was a pause & then her head popped out. You think I should have a hobby while I wait? she said.

Although such negativity and wasteful actions are expressed, “the good life” is brought to the forefront of my mind when I read this story. “The good life” cannot be achieved when no accomplishments or successes are made in an individual’s life. One cannot sit around and wait for death to come. Individuals must set out to achieve happiness and form goals and desires for themselves. Individuals should take up hobbies. When one engages in hobbies, there are opportunities to meet new people with similar interests while engaging in an activity which brings pleasure and joy contributing to “the good life.” Be an optimist not a pessimist waiting for death to come!

On the ABC Sunday night primetime TV series, Desperate Housewives, the girls of Wisteria Lane form a friendship that they say contains no secrets. However, the viewers know that this is in fact a lie! Bree (Marcia Cross) and Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) keep more secrets than the rest. In fact, the neighbors of Wisteria Lane consider these two characters to be living what can be considered “the good life.”

Bree has been given the reputation of the perfect cook and perfect mother with the perfect husband and the perfect children. It seems to everyone that Bree is living “the good life.” However, when scandal hits her family, Bree does everything and anything to hide the actual facts and doings of her family members just to save her reputation. Bree’s son is gay, and her daughter is pregnant with her history teacher’s baby. This seems to be the furthest thing to the perfect family. Bree’s almost traditional looking family isn’t so traditional and conservative anymore. As a result, Bree sends her daughter away to a convent to be cared for by nuns until the baby is born. Meanwhile, back on Wisteria Lane, Bree is pretending to be pregnant. This will allow Bree to pretend that her granddaughter is actually her daughter, and once again Bree’s life can be considered perfect.

Gabrielle appears to be living “the good life.” She is a beautiful and rich ex-model that has just recently married Mayor Victor Lang. However, she is completely unhappy with her life. Victor is not only controlling, but he also places his career in politics before his family causing him to make crucial political decisions without discussing the consequences with his wife, the woman who will also be affected by his decisions and career. On top of that, she is falling back in love and having an affair with her ex-husband, Carlos. Gabrielle seems to be living “the good life,” but in reality, she is in a sticky and confusing situation.

Yesterday, I came across Carrie Underwood’s new single, So Small, coming off her new CD, Carnival Ride which hits stores October 23^rd. I directly connected the central theme of the song, which is love, to “the good life” and what is considered to be “the good life.” The following lyrics came directly from Carrie Underwood’s new single:

When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else seem
So small

Here, Carrie expresses her belief that in order to achieve “the good life,” love is all that matters. Even further, when you come to discover this truth, everything else in life will seem so petty and insignificant. Therefore, as the song states in the subsequent lyrics, what we sometimes see as a huge problem or obstacle (the mountain we climb) may in fact be so small (a grain of salt):

Cause sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing
Is just a grain of sand

It’s so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big at the time
It’s like a river that’s so wide it swallows you whole

Sometimes, we get so caught up in our problems that we completely blow them out of proportion and make them a bigger deal than they actually are. We tend to let our problems consume us or as the song states swallow us whole. However, in order to achieve “the good life” we need to realize that love is all that matters after all.Perhaps, “the good life” could be summarized in the following quote from So Small:

While you’re sitting around thinking about what you can’t change
And worrying about all the wrong things
Time’s flying by, moving so fast
You better make it count cause you can’t get it back

Those four inspirational lines state that we must live life to the fullest! Our lives flash so quickly before our eyes. Therefore, we need to stop worrying about things that we have no control over. Make your life count! That is ultimately how one can achieve “the good life.”

Before entering the exploratory program this semester, I would have never lingered on Father Chris’ mere utterance. In fact, after leaving class, I probably wouldn’t have remembered that remark. However, the connection he made between “the good life” and the ease of life caught my attention. Do I consider an easy life to be a good life? I don’t have a specific answer to that question. I feel that in some ways an easy life is a good life, and in other ways a difficult and challenging life can be a good life as well.

When I think of any easy life, I’m reminded of the summer. I go to the beach, get together with family and friends, attend block parties and barbeques, and take vacations. However, the summer isn’t all fun and games. I also have to hold a job. To me, everything I just described is everything I love about life. Through the fall, winter, and spring, I dream of the summer. The summer is “the good life.” I’m happiest during summer, and my greatest, most cherished memories come from the summer. The summer is an easy life and a good life.

Approaching this from a different perspective, would the summer mean as much to me if life was always as easy as it was during the summer? I think not. Summer is a reward. A reward for all the hard work, challenges, and obstacles faced during the school year. The feeling of accomplishment and pride in achieving great grades and success during the school year also can be described as “the good life.” At the end of the semester, the ability to take a breath of relief is “the good life.” “The good life” is getting through life’s complications and every day stress. “The good life” is the ability to reach the ease of life after facing the challenge of life.