Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

I LOVE to read! Although my journey in the morning and home at night is a bit lengthy, reading keeps me busy. I go through at least one book a week! I finished a book yesterday morning (a truly delicious read that I will share with you in due course) and started a James Patterson book that I had stuck in my bag on my travels home last night. I finished it 5 minutes into my last train home tonight and just sat in my seat, silently watching the world go by in a blur of lights. This book touched my heart. It is called Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas.

It is bittersweet, but filled with love and hope and kindness and wisdom and joy. For however brief the moments that we share with someone we are lucky to have shared them!

Suzanne writes in her diary the “lesson of the five balls”. While recuperating from a heart attack one of her doctor friends tells her this story and it goes like this:

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls…are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

Balance is something that I strive for. I am enjoying my new position, but work is not the be all and end all. Don’t work so hard to create a life that you can’t even stop to enjoy. Make sure you tell the one you love that you love them for time is precious and slips through our fingers like water.