Life's Simple Pleasures

I was laying in bed the other night, with Amy fast asleep beside me, thinking about a million different things and trying to get to sleep when Dora came into the room and jumped up into her bed. You see in our bed Amy sleeps about a foot down from the top of the bed so Dora's bed can fit on our bed too (Yes we cater to our little angel).  Almost every night Dora and I have a little ritual where when she comes to bed and she begins to nest like most cats, I rub her belly.  This gets her purring like a little motor and I continue until she lays down to fall asleep.

This simple little act of hearing Amy sleep and Dora purring brings a genuine smile to my face everytime, no matter the situation or my mood, and fills me right up with joy. But what happens when these pleasures are taken away?




Well it sucks that what happens :)  I can say this because I have had my favorite simple pleasure taken away from me.  And not just once, TWICE!  Each time they were replaced by a machine that beeps every couple hours that is hooked to a line in my chest.  The first time I got the pleasure of sleeping alongside an extremely loud snoring roomate(although he was a wonderful roomate at all other times of the day) and the second time I was in a big room all alone with a fan louder than anything you could imagine.

The nurses say that most patients find the bone marrow transplant easier to go through than the induction therapy.  I have come to the conclusion that it because most patients are AML that go through there.  Because there is no way the BMT was easier than induction.  The transplant was probably one of the most difficult things I have had ever had to get through in my entire life.  The determination, strength, and drive it took to just the simpliest tasks like walking or eating is mind boggling. 

But this post isn't supposed to be about me lamenting about the trials and tribulations of my treatments.  Were the treatments and subsequent recovery hard? Yes.  But that wasn't the hardest part at all.  The hardest part was not having the moment of genuine happiness every night listening to Amy's breathing as she slept and petting Dora's belly as she purred and got ready for bed.  Instead it was replaced my loneliness and a loud fan.

So as I lay in bed the other night I cherishing my moment of happiness, I began reflecting.  Most people simply don't pay enough to the simple pleasures in their lives.  This is really sad because they are all around us and can bring us more joy and happiness than anything else.

This experience over the past year has taught me to not only look for the simple pleasures in my life, but to embrace them.  Don't wait for something tragic to take place in your life to force you to see these pleasures because they are now gone. 

Go and seek them out now, take time to appreciate them, and embrace the happiness they will bring into your life.    

 

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