LAFOLOT

I chose to have a day of GRATITUDE!
I stated, recently, “I need to move forward in the alphabet and move from ‘F’ear to ‘Gratitude’ resulting in ‘H’appiness … ‘I’ say!”

Well! it’s been hellish dealing with family challenges these last 2 and 1/2 years (and prior – but it’s all growth opportunity!). The past two years, my brain damaged sister Dolly (hit by a drunk driver at age 19 – now 63) started to fail. I became her Power of Atty and worked with other family members – dealing with hospitals, vacating an apartment she had (what a mess), more hospitals, doctors, social workers, etc etc etc. Then my mom – the last 8 years – but more recently – failing fast. The last month – hospitals, rehab, vacating an apartment, moving her to assisted living, back in the hospital, rehab, hospital and now hospice. Now, vacating both the apartment (finalizing that) and vacating the assisted living. WHEN WILL IT STOP!? Is what you want to scream at times – but you keep on going!

Thank God for my 12 Step Program background, one on one and group counseling, self-help and Ah! Ha! moments! GRATITUDE and recognition of growth amidst it all is a blessing.

Well, while walking out of my mom’s apartment where I had just finished helping my younger sister finalize the cleaning. I was walking across the parking lot and this is what I saw! LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN! (www.LAFOLOT.com) on the back of a BIG, SHINY, NEW, YELLOW PICK-UP TRUCK parked next to space number 21! (that’s my birthday in February).

LAFOLOT Bumper Display

Moments before, I ran into a resident at the Assisted Living building. I complimented her on her RED jacket, telling her it was HER COLOR! She said: When’s your birthday? I said: the 21st of next month. She said: Mine’s the 22nd! George Washington’s Birthday! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
Was an ANGEL sent to put a smile on my face?

Then to see the bright, black and yellow magnetic bumper display for my motto and business on the bright yellow truck! WHAT A GIFT!

WHY? Because I had taken it off my mom’s refrigerator and placed it in the low income apartment housing’s social room for WHOEVER to take. I figured it would end up on someone’s refrigerator – not giving me advertising – but at least making someone happy.

WELL! I COULD HAVE CRIED TEARS OF JOY! It’s been tough – letting go EARLY of a very lucrative State Government job due to stress of dealing with my sister’s needs. It’s been tough trying to get my business off the ground.

Then, to see where my business advertising bumper display had ended up!

I have to shake my head in AH! MAZE-MENT! It’s truly a W.O.W.!!! World of Wonder!

BIG THANK YOU OF GRATITUDE for whoever is ‘looking out for me out there.’

Highlighted Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT.com
SPEECHLESS
LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN!

Did you miss your present? hmm?

I was behind a well dressed business woman in a checkout line at a Dollar Store. I looked down and noticed a KEY in the bottom of an empty store-hand basket near her feet. I said: ‘Excuse me? Is that your key?’

No response. I said a little louder: ‘Excuse me? Is that your key?’ [she was INTENTLY Texting someone on her mobile device.] She finally CAME TO – for a BRIEF second to say: ‘WHUH?’ I repeated my question, again – she mumbled ‘neh’ and went back to her texting.

Then, the well-dressed business woman in front of her, just having finished paying for HER purchases echoed: ‘Whuh?’ Her friend didn’t even hear her – and mindlessly walked out behind her, leaving the store.

I was a bit ‘concerned’ that they would both be going out to get into a vehicle and drive! No alcohol, no food, just mental FOG and totally unware of THEIR PRESENT!

[I have a 63 yr old sister who was hit by a drunk driver when she was 19 - she is permanently front left lobe brain damaged as a result. She is now in a nursing home and I'm her representative. So my concern is not a light one.]

I have been marketing myself as well as making the effort to SPREAD SMILES BY THE MILES to rush hour traffic – placing signs out in front of a friend’s restaurant that read: ‘FREE Smiles & Laughs Drive-thru!’

or my other effort: MOTOR-VATION with another sign that read – ‘*Smile! YOU’RE GREAT!’

As I sit or stand along the road – I am AMAZED at the amount of Totally NON-PRESENT drivers going by! Not just from Texting, Cell Phone talking-but from staring off into space etc. [yes, I am guilty of the day dreaming, myself.]

- I found a quarter under a chair at a restaurant today!
- I saw a cloud in the sky yesterday, shaped like a ‘V’ for victory!
- I saw a ‘cloud-like’ X-shape in the sky last week – the residue of two jet paths having crossed one another. It was comical – X marked the spot of the restaurant I had gone to!

- I found a dime on the floor of my hairstylist’s salon a few weeks ago.

I play a smile game where I just look at people with a closed-mouth smile and give myself a point if they return the smile.

I watched a teenage boy talking to his mother in the lobby-waiting area of a restaurant the other week. His mother was focused on her mobile device – reading and texting. The TEENAGER was Talking Away to his mother – and all that came from her was an occassional: ‘Whuh?’ ‘Huh?’ How many parents would be THRILLED to have their teen wanting to talk to them? I watched in amazement!

When walking to my mailbox the other day, I found a beautiful bird feather. I picked it up and saved it! When I was conducting my MOTOR-VATION event, today – I found a TULIP TREE leaf on the ground next to my chair! What a find! I picked it up and saved it!

All these PRESENTs I receive in Smiles, Waves, Beeps, Acknowledgements, and the little GIFTS God, Spirit, the Universe lay across my path as I walk out and about are PRICELESS!

How many PRESENTS did you miss today by not being PRESENT?

I SAID – HOW MANY PRESENTS DID YOU MISS TODAY BY NOT BEING PRESENT!? [this line was just for effect - as a reader - I can tell you are very present..]

THANK YOU for your gift of reading my blog(s) – YOU are APPRECIATED!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
www.lafolot.com
Living in the moment …
Living in A-MAZE-ment
Live Life! Laugh Often!

Still DRIVING MYSELF HAPPY! with my new campaign! [Drive Youself Happy!]

I see so many UNFOCUSED people on the road, on cell phones, texting, exhausted and sitting at traffic lights with a ‘far off’ look –

I have an oldest sister who was hit by an ‘unfocused’ drunk driver when she was 20 and she is now 62 – having ‘survived’ and having to ‘learn to LIVE with front left lobe brain damage.

Put your cell phone, etc. on mute and toss it in the back seat of your car where you can’t get to it while driving.

Help others to stay focused on the vehicle in front of them by checking out the license plate in front of them in traffic; as well as at stop lights.

For example:

While pulling into a shopping plaza parking lot – the license plate on the car in front of me was ….

*drum roll (just put the rim shot in after you read this)

PMS-RN

OK – so does this mean to STAY CLEAR because this nurse is prone to emotional explosions? – - or that this nurse will help those in the middle of an emergency emotional explosion –

OH! Maybe this nurse makes house calls or roadside emergencies for emotional explosions!? (my mom had two cute, attentive male nurses at an Emergency Room visit last Tuesday – so I wouldn’t have minded a cute, male nurse helping me out when I –

would make a Mount Saint Helen’s Explosion fool of myself with my PMS moments!

Thank God this nurse advertises! You never know when you’ll need a PMS RN!

Nurses – they GIVE, AND THEY GIVE AND THEY GIVE!

(After that one, the next plate I saw was: HHA (HAHA :O) ) and after that I saw: DDY (Daddy?) – *SMILE – my Dad is the one that got me STARTED on this license plate word game when I was younger- so that was a nice memory).

DRIVING MYSELF HAPPY! and staying focused on the car in front of me.

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of Lafolot
www.lafolot.com
[Check out some license plates to help keep your eyes focused on the car in front of you. ;o) Drive safely and happily! Join my DRIVE YOURSELF HAPPY! campaign!] … no cost and no paperwork!

[this blog can also be seen at VIBRANT NATION by: Helenoflafolot]