oked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out toDo you remember the saying, 'everything I needed to know about life I learned in kindergarten?' Well, I won't say everything, but definitely a few really key lessons can be learned from the five and under set. One of the most important ones is the wide-eyed wonder and delight that children seem to be able to find in almost everything, every minute of every day, day after day. As adults we often do not appreciate the enormity of this wide-eyed sense of adventure. In fact we often find it tiresome, but take a moment to truly ponder what it would be like to look forward to each and every day with so much excitement that sleep is like punishment. Can you imagine how different your days would become?

Jonathan was in a rut. He'd begun to dread his work and even wasn't satisfied with how he spent his free time. He'd begun criticizing and nit-picking just about everything and had begun to drive even himself crazy. One evening after work Jon stopped at the dance studio that his sister ran. While waiting for her last class to end, he ran into an old friend from high school. He was surprised to see Marguerite. He'd heard that she had moved away years before, and recalled being a tad depressed about it because he'd had a secret crush on her for years. Looking at her, she barely looked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out to

t everything, every minute of every day, day after day. As adults we often do not appreciate the enormity of this wide-eyed sense of adventure. In fact we often find it tiresome, but take a moment to truly ponder what it would be like to look forward to each and every day with so much excitement that sleep is like punishment. Can you imagine how different your days would become?

Jonathan was in a rut. He'd begun to dread his work and even wasn't satisfied with how he spent his free time. He'd begun criticizing and nit-picking just about everything and had begun to drive even himself crazy. One evening after work Jon stopped at the dance studio that his sister ran. While waiting for her last class to end, he ran into an old friend from high school. He was surprised to see Marguerite. He'd heard that she had moved away years before, and recalled being a tad depressed about it because he'd had a secret crush on her for years. Looking at her, she barely looked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out to

nt. Can you imagine how different your days would become?

Jonathan was in a rut. He'd begun to dread his work and even wasn't satisfied with how he spent his free time. He'd begun criticizing and nit-picking just about everything and had begun to drive even himself crazy. One evening after work Jon stopped at the dance studio that his sister ran. While waiting for her last class to end, he ran into an old friend from high school. He was surprised to see Marguerite. He'd heard that she had moved away years before, and recalled being a tad depressed about it because he'd had a secret crush on her for years. Looking at her, she barely looked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out to

ce studio that his sister ran. While waiting for her last class to end, he ran into an old friend from high school. He was surprised to see Marguerite. He'd heard that she had moved away years before, and recalled being a tad depressed about it because he'd had a secret crush on her for years. Looking at her, she barely looked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out tooked old enough to be out of high school, let alone fast approaching her mid-thirties as he knew her to be. He told her how good she looked and she smiled, but did not give the compliment a great deal of attention, which really earned Jon's approval. When his sister Juana joined them, she suggested that they all go out to dinner and catch up. During dinner Jon learned that Marguerite had a very eventful life. She'd managed to recover from a disaster of a marriage, from being yet another casualty of the Dot.com bust, and had recently moved back home with her Dad, yet she was the epitome of optimism. She never once complained about the things that had gone wrong in her life, but seemed to look to the future as uncharted frontier, full of opportunity.

Jonathan could not believe how much life and vitality she seemed to ooze. When Juana and Jon asked Marguerite about her optimism, she remarked that it was because she refused to let life beat her. She chose to embrace each fresh day as a new chance and could not dwell on what had happened in the past, even if it was as recently as yesterday. She said that periodically when she slipped and allowed herself to get caught up in yesterdays, she realized it immediately because she felt drained, bitter, and often listless. Marguerite confessed that she learned this way of life from her now seven year old daughter Callie. Callie was always excited about life. She couldn't wait to embrace a new day, conquer a new task, and almost always did it with a fantastic attitude. When she was born, Marguerite had searched for a way to nurture the free spirit in