Keep that grin on your chin and you’ll be right mate.

Said to me the other day by an old timer who, passing by, has seen a thing or two in a long life.

Keep smiling - I think my Dad said that on many an occasion.

Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Cry and you cry alone - well that’s an old one.

Great smile on your dial.

In a while crocodile.

Fun, good humour, kills the tumour,

Beats any rumour.

Love and laughter - it’s the best medicine.

Despite the odds, the challenges and the stress

And sometimes the pain.

Go forward, onwards and forever upwards.

The stars await.

@Tom Stodulka

Always looking out into the distance,

there is much beyond the window.

Today it’s dappled light, a reminder of Hopkins, from the days of childhood.

Childhood - what is that? So many memories, so long ago;

Getting old is not easy, so many friends ageing so quickly and more travelling beyond the distance, beyond the window.

How is it for me and my family and friends?

My own special mother?

Just heard some old ladies in the ferry say:

Oh, to be young again!

Indeed, to be young again.

@Tom Stodulka)

To smile, to laugh, to be kind and gracious.

To resiliently cope despite the stress,

To the outsider, life is sometimes seen as a mess.

I guess,

But what would I know, may I go, how low.

So I look, observe and respect, never direct, nor instruct.

To be, to see, no, not me.

To go up high, along and into the bigger world.

Forwards, onwards, but accept occasional backwards;

Fairness and kindness.

Love and warm wishes,

Skills, and the will to go ever upwards and onwards.

(From 'Storm Clouds & Silver Linings; My Journey' by Tom Stodulka)