Life isn’t about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the storm!

   It was a busy Monday morning, at about 7.30am, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s arrived my business office to make a transfer from his account. He said he was in hurry as he had an appointment at 8.30am. I offered him a seat, knowing it would be almost an hour before his transaction could be finalized. I saw him looking at his watch and decided that since I was not busy with another customer, I would talk with him. While taking care of his transaction, I asked him if he had another bank’s transaction this morning, given his hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while! As she is a victim of Alzheimer’s disease (a serious illness that affects the speech and memory centre of the brain). As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised and asked him, “and you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled as he patted my hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me but I still know who she is.’ I had to hold back my tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, I was speechless as I couldn’t even mutter the service culture slogan “thank you, have a nice day”. Then I thought, ‘That is the kind of love we all must possess. True love is neither physical nor just romantic’. True love is the acceptance of all that has been, will be and will not be. Peace is seeing a sunset and knowing who to thank. The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything: they just make the best of everything they have. Life isn’t about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the storm