Joy

My daughter Khrys brought home the movie, The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman, and Jack Nicholson. If you haven't seen it I strongly recommend you do. It is about two men who have cancer, and not long to live, live out the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. They come from two totally different walks of life, but reach across that chasm with the common bond of their deadly disease. One scene in the movie Carter (Morgan Freeman) and Eddie (Jack Nicholson) are sitting on a pyramid and Carter talks about the Egyptian views on the afterlife. He stated that when an Egyptian died and they walked up to the gates of the afterlife and they are asked two questions. How they answer those two questions determines how they spend their afterlife. Eddie asks what the two questions are, and Carter responds, "Have you ever had joy in your life?" and secondly, "Have you ever brought joy to someone else's life". I spent the day today thinking about those two questions and how I would answer them. The first question, "Have you ever had joy in your life?" Most definitely,yes, I have, many times. When I saw my wife walk down the aisle of the church on October 5th 1995, dressed up in her lovely wedding gown. Again when I saw the doctor hold up each of my three children for the first time. I felt true joy when I saw my oldest walk across the stage getting her diploma from High School. I felt tremendous joy the day we picked her up from the hospital after her cardiac scare when she was only three months old. I felt tremendous joy when I saw Khrys in her prom gown. Again on the day each of my children took their first steps. I see true joy each and every day as I look up at the White Mountains that have become my home. I find joy in the cold crisp winter day as I snowshoe through my field and into the woods, I find joy in sitting quietly filling my blueberry bucket. I find joy in sitting at my desk putting words down on paper. I find joy in watching my wonderful daylillies bloom. I find joy in many of the small things in life that others may find mundane. The second question, "have you ever brought joy to another person?" I find this much harder to answer. I would like to think I brought Joy to my wife as she saw me standing at the front of the church in my full dress uniform. I would like to think I brought joy into her life when I asked her to marry me. I would like to think that the anonymous gifts I have bought for kids at Christmas have brought joy into their lives. I hope some of the people who read my writing finds joy in my writing. I really do hope I have brought joy into people's lives.