Dust 'Em Off!

Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.  ~  John Wayne  

Courage is when you jump off the cliff , and build your wings on the way down.  ~ Ray Bradbury

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Courage.  What does that mean to you?  I used to think I was really courageous when I was young, because I wasn't afraid of anything.  I mean really.  Not afraid of anything.  I was in really good physical shape, and rode the wild horses for all they were worth.  Literally and figuratively.  I had that great sense only found in the young, "Nothing bad could happen right?"  .  I didn't realize that courage was not simply an absence of fear.  Now I realize that real courage is being scared out of your mind, but moving forward.  Courage is being able to spit in the eye of fear, even though your knees are knocking so hard you can hardly stand up.  Courage is when you realize that the news the doctors have is not good.  It's not going to go away, or get any better, and that there really isn't anything they can do, but you get up every day anyway.  Courage is when you know that life is a fatal condition for everyone, but you carry that knowledge wrapped in a smile.  Real courage is knowing that life is full of difficult , gut -wrenching decisions, but knowing that the decisions must be made anyway, by you.  I don't regret my youth.  The feeling of being able to fly without fear.  But I fly now, too.  I think sometimes it makes the flight that much more spectacular.  Yes, sometimes, I fall.  But I'm learning, in my life now, how to fall with grace, land with just a few bruises, and get right back up again. So even if I have to patch them up on the way down, I'm keeping my wings dusted off.  How about you?

Fly On!