When you look through the world from a child's perspective you see life as innocent and pure, you savor the moments, even the smallest ones and you get excited over the really big events that take place. Somewhere along the way, from childhood to adulthood we lose the sense that everything is wondrous, far too often, the small disappointments and failures, turn into something that holds us back from living, leaving us unable to see anything good in the world.

Not often does a child's innocence touch me, I find it difficult to read about tragic circumstances, but Miles changed that for me. Last year I read an article about Miles Levin, he was an amazing young man, who had a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He wrote about his struggles, his family and what he wanted out of life and he shared his story with all of us, so that we could learn to live the life we were meant to live.

Today, I am going to tell you a story of another child… she is a pretty little girl who just turned 4; she was diagnosed with Stage IV, neuroblastoma in December of 2005. I first became acquainted with her story after she won the hearts of the audience at WishNight in 2007. She is anything but shy, making the audience laugh out loud with a pure moment of joy. She performed in every song and was the shining star this amazing evening deserved. She was the feature story during the video about Make A Wish and at the time, she wasn't expected to make it through Christmas, which was just 7 months away. This year we were all amazed to see her perform, wearing the amazing smile we have all grown to love, she is still here with us, because she has a spirit of determination and refuses to give up.

This past year, she was once again on stage at WishNight, the sparkle in her eye and the smile on her face spoke volumes of the true spirit of who she was, what an amazing job her parents were doing at molding this beautiful little girl.

Today, many of us who have followed her journey, received notification she wasn't doing well, her experimental treatment was giving her problems and they had admitted her into the ICU unit. She has become very ill and the prognosis is not looking bright.

I am not sharing this story with you, to make you sad, or depressed, the goal here is to make others realize that every day is a gift, which is not meant to be wasted. It's a testament to human strength, courage and will to move on, to persevere regardless of what obstacles are put in front of you.

So next time, when you are full of self pity, over the smallest of things, realize there is nothing that can hold you back from living the life you always dreamed of, except you. Money, time, stress, burdens, are just factors in the small scheme of things, they are not the reason you are here on earth, savor the moments and enjoy them, love the people in your life like it is your last day on earth, don't wait for it to be too late for you to make the most of your life, because you have been blessed with one more day… don't waste it.

For Alexa…

http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/viewJournal.do?method=executeInit