A sad, yet inspiring and beautiful story of Katie Kirkpatrick, a 21-year-old, “who did not let sickness stop her from living, take away the hope or faith that made her believe she had a future …“, according to snopes.com. A reminder to all that time is limited, and someday it may just be our last. How are we going to live the last of our days? Are we going to just lie in bed and wait for death to claim us? Or are we going to get up, dress up in our best, get out of the house and live life to the fullest?
Remember that how we continue to live life, is purely our choice. Katie’s choice has inspired me and I hope her choice will inspire you to live the life that you truly deserve! To a friend who lost her life to cancer recently – you will always be dearly remembered.
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A tribute to a beautiful and inspiring soul – Katie Kirkpatrick
On January 15, 2005, twenty-one-year-old Katie—the girl “with a contagious smile and unrelenting optimism” who had been battling cancer for three years—married twenty-three-year-old Lapeer County sheriff’s deputy Nick Goodwin, her high school sweetheart and the love of her life, at Church of Christ in Hazel Park, Michigan.
Katie Kirkpatrick and her fiance, Nick, rest prior to their wedding. Katie has terminal cancer and spends hours in chemotherapy. Here Nick waits while she finishes one of the sessions.
Even in pain and dealing with her organs shutting down, with the help of morphine, Katie took care of every single wedding plan. Her dress had to be adjusted several times due to her constant weight loss.
An unusual accessory at the wedding was the oxygen tube that Katie used throughout the ceremony and reception as well. Katie’s parents look on.
Katie, in a wheelchair, listening to her husband and friends
At the reception, Katie had to take a few rest breaks. The pain wouldn’t allow her to stand up for long periods.
Katie passed away just five days after her wedding. Seeing the smile on her face, it was priceless.
Nick said of the wedding and Katie’s passing:
“It was wonderful. It was a dream come true. She was the most beautiful angel ever—just caring and selfless, and such an inspiration to everyone. She was always smiling no matter what happened, no matter what news she got. She was as close to perfect as they come.“
An inspiring video which touches my heart every time I watch it. And yet it never failed to put a smile on my face at the end of the video. For those of you who haven’t watched it before. Hope you’ll be inspired by it and yet at the same time have a good laugh watching it. Something which caught my attention in the video between the man and the girl.
The girl was crying and asking the man, “Why am I different from others?” And the man replied, “Why…do you have to be like others.” The video is about a deaf girl learning to play the violin; impossible it may seem. However, as the man said in the video, music is a visible things, close your eyes. You will see.”
Believe in ourselves and then we have to take massive action! You can Shine too!
“You cannot avoid pain, but you can chose to overcome it.” – Paulo Coelho
I believe most would agree with me that life isn’t always easy and some of you would agree that if it is easy, it wouldn’t be fun and exciting. I like the part that life isn’t always easy; in fact I will grow to love all the challenges that life throws at me eventually. It is human nature that at times I would still grumble a little. However, I am grateful for every challenges that had come my way and they provided me with the opportunity to better myself. There were times when I doubted myself and thought that I couldn’t do it. But time and again, I proved to myself that I could actually do it. When we focus on what we can do, the challenges will eventually work out.
How about you, were there times when you doubted your own ability to overcome challenges that came your way? Did you also focus on what you could do and eventually the challenges worked out? We may not be able to overcome every challenges always … at least not at the initial stage when we meet it.
But as the saying goes, “We will not be dealt with any challenges which are too big for us to handle.” I believe and trust in that. Challenges are but invisible steps which we must take towards our destination. Taking each step requires Faith as the step would only show itself when we have already taken it. Just as what Steve Job said in his first story about ‘connecting the dots,’ we wouldn’t know where we are heading until we look back and connect the dots. Thus, the truth of the matter is we wouldn’t know exactly where we are heading a lot of times and that is where we make mistakes along the way. Just keep the Faith and keep moving!
Life isn’t always easy and it is not supposed to be easy also but that is where all the excitements are! Quoting from Jim Rohn:
“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”
Life Isn’t Always Easy
Life can be unfair at times
When you must maintain Faith
And Never Let Go.
It is especially during the difficult times
That you must live your life
To its fullest potential.
Those are the times to Triumph
Over circumstances
With Hope and Courage.
Life isn’t always easy,
But if you keep Going and Persevere
To the very best of your Ability,
You will gain Strength to manage
The new Challenges ahead.
Each Goal that you reach
Is another important Step Forward.
Believe that there are
Bright and wonderful days
Ahead for you and you will find them.
A pleasant surprise. I remember the last time I saw a ladybird, I was around 9-10 years old. Yes, it has been that long. Those were the times when I got to see a lot of ladybirds on the plants along the fence of the school; my friend and I used to catch some of the ladybirds.
I saw this the other day while my associates and I were looking for some plants to add ‘colours’ to our plain looking office. I was elated to see the little ladybird and immediately took out my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone to take a few shots; the few shots turned out pretty decent. It sure is good to have a camera with us always – we never know what surprises we will get in life.
Simple thing like this makes me happy. When we learn how to appreciate life, it is easy to be happy with everything and anything. Life’s goodness is in abundance all around us. I appreciate and am grateful for all these goodness; be it the blessings that came along the way or be it the challenges that came my way.
It has been challenging for the past few weeks with lots of brick walls to be cleared. Brick walls which seemed impossible to break down initially all came down eventually. Just as Randy Pausch said, “Brick walls are there for a reason…” They are there to test how much we wanted what we want. In his own words, “… The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” The good news is, the greater the brick wall, the bigger the opportunity for growth.
It was an amazing experience to see how each challenge eventually cleared and the limiting belief which I had of myself broke down. It was as if the Universe conspired to make things happened; all issues were ironed out with the assistance of family, friends etc around us. A simple realisation, “When we truly believe and hold the faith strongly that all will work out great, the Universe will respond in the most magical way.” This is the law of attraction.
However, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all we need to do are to believe and have the faith that all will go well. We need to take action to make things happen too!
Last but not least, to share with you sometimes Steve Job said in his Stanford Commencement Speech, “Sometimes life hits you on the head with bricks, don’t lose faith!“
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“You cannot avoid pain, but you can chose to overcome it.” – 
