Stop And Smell The Roses

There’s a term “stop and smell the roses” and that’s exactly what we’re doing today!!!  We are celebrating life, and there is one life in particular to keep in mind on this beautiful day.  Sanna Middleton, Brandon’s Mother, passed away four and a half years ago.  Today would have been her birthday.  She would have been 48 years old today.  What an incredible woman she was; always thinking of others, helping everyone she crossed paths with in any way that she could.  She possessed so much love for every person she met, and her beauty was so much more than just skin deep.  At the time of her passing, Brandon and I were living in Connecticut and Sanna was living in Florida.  We were preparing to move back to Florida to be closer to Sanna since she had been physically struggling for quite some time; for years the doctors were putting her on this medication and that medication, unable to pinpoint what was causing Sanna to have so much pain.  All the physical pain was causing Sanna to shut down mentally, and we knew we had to get to Florida to help her in every way we could so she could get better.  We were working extremely hard, and B and I were easily working 55-65 hours a week at the time, saving every extra dollar besides money for our bills so that we could move to Florida as soon as we could.  We even moved into Brandon’s Nani’s house so that we would not have rent, allowing us to save money faster.  We were so busy working; we only spoke to Sanna about once every other week at that time.  We were staying focused on getting down there as fast as we could to be with her.  In February of 2008, Sanna had a heart attack, and we knew we had to work even harder to get to Florida as quickly as possible.  We took action and set our move date for June.  Two months later and two months before our move, we got a phone call from Brandon’s G-pa who was living just 15 minutes from Sanna.  He was calling later than his usual bedtime, and my heart sank as I told Brandon that he should probably excuse himself from where we were and call his Grandfather back.  I watched Brandon pace around the parking lot, and I just knew that we didn’t get to Florida fast enough.

After about an hour, Brandon called me from the car and told me we needed to go.  We drove in silence down to Sanna’s favorite spot in the whole world, the “Rocky Beach” outside of Nani’s house.  We sat there for about two hours, crying, talking, and remembering Sanna that night.  About a month later, Sanna’s ashes were spread just out on Long Island Sound at that very spot.  We always vowed from that moment on to celebrate her life and do something huge for her.  Today, we are starting the Sanna Joan Foundation, and plan to leave a legacy for both Sanna and my Grandmother, Joan, who passed away just four months after Sanna that same year.

Today we remember Sanna with an extremely important lesson that Brandon and I have fully come to understand since her passing.  Even though Sanna is physically no longer around for us to visit and enjoy, Sanna has taught us to always remember to stop and smell the roses on our journey through life.

What is stopping to smell the roses?  Don’t get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  Don’t take the people who love and care about you for granted.  Don’t work so hard you forget to do exactly what the lesson says to do; STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES!!!  Call your friends and family.  Visit them as often as you can.  Write emails just to say hi.  Make sure to take time out to have fun.  Appreciate all you have, and be grateful for everything you’ve achieved.  Share with others.  Help others.  Take risks.  Be all you can be.  Love your life.  Live the way you deserve to.  Stop and smell the roses.

Brandon and I make sure to live every day to its fullest!  We wake up and start our day saying “What a glorious day filled with love, opportunity, and potential!”  We stay in touch with the people we care about the most, and make sure to tell them how much we love and appreciate them all the time.  We don’t take anything for granted, including each other, and have the best relationship possible because we always make sure to let each other know how important we are to each other.  We also work hard on our alliance, always bringing more and more people in who want to create prosperity with us and live the best lives we can live.  We live the way we know we deserve to.  We smile a lot.  We laugh a lot.  We love a lot.  And we definitely take time out every day to stop and smell the roses.

Not a day goes by that we don’t think about Sanna.  And instead of getting depressed and sad that she’s not around, or letting her passing hold us back, we live life for her.  We celebrate her all the time.  We laugh about all the great times we had with her and thank her every day for the times we did get to share with her.  When we see rainbows, we know she’s nearby telling us hello.  She’s around every day, and we celebrate her more and more as time goes on!

We love you Sanna, and today, we celebrate you.  Thank you thank you thank you for being in my life.  You will always be remembered, and your foundation will enable you to help others even though you are physically no longer around.  Thank you for being such a positive force in all of our lives!  You touched everyone’s heart that you ever met, and we love you, miss you, and think about you every day.

xoxo.

Tagged as: birthday, Brandon, celebrating life, Connecticut, Florida, Life, live every day to the fullest, Long Island Sound, medication, Middleton, Rocky Beach, roses, Samantha, Sanna, Sanna Joan Foundation, stop and smell the roses