pink & purple

Dianne, the massage therapist who works for Configure in Sylvia Park walked in with a bright pink & purple top with loud flower prints on them and a huge bright purple headband in her hair. She always had a sunny character, but even this was a little over the top for her and I kinda assumed it was in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness month here in NZ where everything turns pink.

"You're looking like summer today!" I smiled at her, glad to see such brightness in the gym on a rainy day. and she said to me, "Would you believe me if I told you I just came from a funeral?"

I was quite surprised. She smiled but with just a tinge of sadness, she told me she had just attended the funeral of a friend's daughter who died at the age of 11 because she couldn't get a heart transplant. Her favourite colours were pink and purple and she had asked everyone to wear that on her last day of her life.

She was born with multiple complications and was waiting on a heart for a few years now that she had come to a stage where even if she had a heart transplant it wouldn't do her much good. Her organs were pretty much dead and she was surviving on life support. So she had decided to pull the plug where she would survive for about another 20 hours. In that last day she played Foosball for the first time, painted butterflies, ate ice cream and had all her friends and family spend the entire day with her in her ward. She sang and clapped along to songs and when she knew she was ready to go she told everyone she was going to bed.

She was 11. And her favourite colours were pink and purple.

I guess when life weighs you down, brave souls like hers give you a little boot in your bum to remind you how lucky you are to be walking and eating and laughing and singing and driving and dancing and doodling and running.

Even if you could do only 2 of the above, you're still able to do 1 thing more than that little girl.

Make use of it.