Bridges, Brakes, Balls, Cancer?

Walking across the bayou bridge on my way to lunch or dinner I always stop to look at this little turtle on one end. He lives in the shallow part of the water near the cafeteria. It makes me really happy when I notice other people doing the same thing.
These last two weeks have been very busy for me, but I've still had lots of fun things going on. Caroline and I were sitting in our room, and she declared how she really wanted to play with puppies. So, we went of to find the pet store. Unfortunately, the puppies were not available for petting at that time, but we still had a lot of fun going around the rest of the store. We met the owner of the place and talked with her for a good while as she chased about birds and sprayed down chameleons. After that we decided that s'mores were the best idea (We'd been talking about them eariler) so we drove down the street to Target. After getting "enough marshmallows to last four years" we called Ashley, from down the hall and had a good laugh as chocolate went all about our faces. Ashley never having tried s'mores before.
Thursday Caroline and I decided to try out racket ball at the activity center. As we all know, I'm not athletically inclined, but we still had a great time, cracking up at ourselves. It consisted mostly of Caroline hitting the ball and me flailing. Friday we went again. Caroline hit the ball, I hit my knee with the racket. It made the same cracking sound. Caroline hits the ball, I whack my shin. But overall, I'm getting better, and it's a really fun game. Though neither of us really knows the rules of it. I'll have to look those up soon.
But yes, other than these brief times, studies consume most of our free time. I really am enjoying my classes. We still haven't had any word back from Dr. Mills on the research worker scholarship thing, but I am loving Atms. Last night was the AMS (American Meteorological Society) game night. Lots of people, very entertaining.
With all that's been going on though, my mind keeps coming back to the lady at the pet store. When asked if she was having a good day she threw her hands up with a huge grin and said, "Honey when you survive cancer twice, every morning you wake up it's a wonderful day." And I can't stop thinking about this. This lady loved where she was. She loved the animals and reptiles and fish, and people she worked with. She had that spark in her, that energy in living. And I keep wondering if it always takes something as drastic as cancer to spark that in someone. That Wake up and live! is what seems to be missing a lot. Everyone is so caught up in life, that they don't see it. I don't know if that makes entirely clear sense. But, I just keep thinking, Yes, I want to wake and say, Here I am, everyday is a wonderful day! Because, I am terribly happy with what I'm doing and where I am, and everything about me. I wouldn't want to forget that. No, I do not want to forget that. I hope you have a wonderful day, and week, and life.