Some days appear to be great days.  Just think, you say to yourself, it’s a glorious blue-skied day and it’s your best friend’s daughter’s wedding day.  You are pumped and happy about life, about the happy couple and your friend. 

You are wearing your favorite ‘going to a wedding’ outfit.  You look great in it.  You know it; plus, everyone tells you so.  Your hair is fine, what’s off is in your body.  Well, it's in your head as well.  But no one will know today – your game face is on and you will find the way to enjoy the day. 

Why not?  Enjoying this day isn’t going to change the fact that you have Parkinson’s.  That’s just plain fact, you say to yourself, so why not experience it as a good day. 

At the end of the day, you reflect and think, "Yahoo, I did it!"  You had a good day, you enjoyed the wedding, you toasted the couple.  Yes, your toast was with sparking water not sparkling wine but you let go of your worries and enjoyed the day.  After all, it’s your day, too.  You'd long before decided it was going to be a great day and you made it happen.

Yes, some days are tougher than others.  It’s not so hard when you’re at the wedding and the bride’s beauty brings tears and reflections of her Mom, your dear friend.  Of course, you will have a good day – for your friend and for yourself.  No one else knows, just your friend and your husband. 

It’s a new diagnosis and you haven’t decided how you want to tell people.  Right now, the others don’t know how frightened you are.  They look at you and see you in your great dress with your smile – it’s easier to smile when the smile is for someone else – in this case, for your friend and her daughter and the perfection of the day.  It’s a bittersweet smile but it is your smile and no one else sees anything other.

It may not be Parkinson’s.  It may not be your health at all.  It may be you’ve lost your job or you haven’t worked in a year.  It may be your worry for your son or your husband or that your business might not make payroll.  We all have worries.  Sometimes our worries are heavy and other times they are light but we all have concerns. 

Each day is ours.  We decide how our day plays out.  If that's the case, then why not get the most out of each and every day?  The answer?  You find a way a moment at a time.  It’s that we summon up our courage to enjoy our day.  We may pray or we may meditate, we may medicate or we may use our laser-like focus.  Whatever it is we do, we each follow our path and that path includes our own everyday sort of courage.

Is your today a day of courage?  What about the person seated next to you?  Is theirs a day of courage?