I have someone I love with all my heart.

Someone I would do anything to help.

But no matter how much I wish I could help, it is not in my power.

Her favorite expression is “life sucks.” She means it, and she says it often.

I cringe every time she says it.

I believe just the opposite. Each day of life is a gift.

Maybe you have to have lived long enough to appreciate our gift of life. But I don’t think that’s the case.

Spend some time with a young child and you will probably see the joy of childhood.

It doesn’t take much to make a child happy.

A friend of mine spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect birthday gift for her 3-year-old old grandson. She wrapped the gift carefully in bright paper that would appeal to the child. She thought he would rip it off in a second, eager to see what was inside the big present.

Instead, after he carefully took the paper off he laughed when he saw the big colorful box.

“This kid was happy with the present before he even saw his actual gift,” said his grandmother.

Young children do indeed have the gift of joy.

I can remember as a child being happy when it rained so I could go out and play in the puddles. And when we went to Knoebel’s for a family picnic we kids loved playing in the creek. We thought the swimming pool at the amusement park was for “big people.”

And the funny thing is when I was much older and could go in the swimming pool I still liked to walk in the creek, much to my mother’s dismay. She wondered how I could get that dirty.

Even as a youngster I was aware of the free gifts of nature.

Like any gift, you are the one that determines how much you value it.

Sometimes how you value the gift of life depends on your circumstances. If you are going through a hard time perhaps you don’t take the time to value the gift of life.

Or, perhaps tough circumstances make you treasure even more every gift of life.

I have a new friend who smiles all the time. And I do mean every time. Before I even met Eric I was drawn by the way he’s always smiling. It made me curious about his life.

When my husband and I got to eat dinner with Eric and his wife she mentioned he “died three times” before he had a pacemaker.

In a dinner conversation we certainly didn’t go into details, but Eric did tell us how his life improved dramatically after he had a pacemaker.

He says he can’t believe his blood work and lab tests gets better each year.

“I’m now like the bionic man. I get younger every year,” Eric says.

While that’s amazing I don’t think it’s the reason why he smiles all the time.

He and his wife have weathered serious health problems, but they don’t let that wipe the smile off their faces.

All I can tell you is they are interesting people who are a delight to be with.

Having problems is part of life. Even when life is difficult life is a gift.

One person who lives by the motto “life is good” is my friend Jeanne Plante.

I met her when she was literally down and out, lying on her back for weeks in a hospital bed.

Our Emmaus women volunteered to sit with her, with each us of us taking turns to be with her.

At the time I didn’t know Jeanne very well, but after I went to sit with her I kept going back.

There is something compelling about Jeanne.

Despite her circumstance she shines with the joy of life.

She was in a wheelchair for years but was able to get by on her own until the accident that happened when she was driving at night to visit a friend in the hospital.

The accident had further injured her spine a way that resulted in more pain and limited mobility.

Try living alone and coping with that.

Some of her well-meaning friends insisted Jeanne was no longer capable of living alone and urged her to go to a nursing home.

With the help of some volunteers and neighbors Jeanne stayed in her home. Her daughter flies here from Michigan once a month to make frozen dinners for her refrigerators and volunteers help with doctors appointments.

That should have been enough trauma for one person’s life, but it wasn’t to be.

She had to have more serious spine surgery and then got hit with Parkinson’s disease.

What was Jeanne’s response to this?

“God is good,” she says. “I put my truth in Him.’

Jeanne sits in her wheelchair in the front row of church, and even people she doesn’t know keep coming to hug her. They recognize she is deeply spiritual.

If she ever heard someone says “life sucks” she would have a lot to counter that.

I tell you about Eric and Jeanne to prove it isn’t just circumstances that determine your happiness.

You do!

You have the starring role in this epic drama called life.

Only you can determine how you play your part.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net