This is one of my favorite pictures of Nicki; she would have turned 35 on October 3, 2001. We all miss her dearly, but one day I will see my daughter again; that's comforting!

I hope everyone is doing well during these difficult times with Covid 19. 

I'm busy working on my first non-fiction book, ONCE A WEEK, a story of two friends who take one day out of their week to have lunch together at fabulous restaurants with great views. The book takes place here in Florida, where I have lived for thirty years. I love the sun, sand, food, and my friends and family. Thank you for following my blog, and I wish you love, peace, and good health. God bless 💜 Bunny

What I've Learned Over The Past Year Facing A Global Pandemic Covid 19 and Goals For 2021

 I hope everyone is safe and healthy. It's been a crazy couple of years with COVID 19 and the lockdown. Personally, COVID 19 has helped me value each and every person in my life more. I'm spending more time with friends and family. During the lockdown, I spent most of my time writing my third book ONCE A WEEK which required me to be on my computer. I'm sure I'm not alone in spending time at home and working on a computer. I would love to hear some of the things you've done in the past year. Many of you, I'm sure, worked remotely, so home has become comfortable and productive. I have several friends who built home offices and gyms in various rooms of their houses this past year. I'm thrilled to finally get out of the house and go places, even travel, but mostly to not live in fear feels comforting.

Writing my first novel after writing non-fiction is a new adventure for me, and it is fun. I'd love to hear how the pandemic changed you or changed what you do. Is your life back to normal? Have you made a change in your
career, or has anything changed in your personal life due to the pandemic?

For me, I'm going to have more fun going forward, and I'll visit my family in Michigan more often and spend more time with friends. Also, I'm going to meditate and learn yoga. 

Running Your Own Race

                                   Run Your Own Race

I like to run, not only for exercise but because I can think clearly when I run. I think about my future while running, and maybe that's because running is moving forward. My favorite place to run is on the beach. The ocean inspires me to think about life and what I want out of life. I see people running together but I prefer to run alone so I can focus internally. I first started running back in 2006 after my daughter died from cancer. Running gave me a outlet for my pain, and it still does.

A few years after my daughter died I went to a clinical psychologist just to talk. As it turned out he was also a Life Coach and eventually I studied under him and obtained my Life Coaching certificate. It was through my own personal coaching practice that I found my vision in life. I set goals and achieved  my dreams, and desires. Through life coaching I began to think thoughts that  I had not thought, and to say what I had not said, and to dream what I had never imagined. This was when I was able to create the life I want to live.

Can a person be 100% happy?  Yes, I believe we can.  

Running, meditating, and praying have been ways that I have found contentment, and peace after my daughter died.  I believe that Nicki would be happy for me, and she would not want me to be sad all the time. All of us have to find our own happiness in life. No one can find happiness for us. So search inside because there you will find your happiness.

 RUN YOUR OWN RACE to happiness 

Bunny

MOM

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.  ~Author Unknown
                                 
For those of us who are baby boomers, whose parents are now elderly, I'm wondering how you are emotionally handling watching your mother or father age? My mother Beverly is eighty-six and has Alzheimer's. Mom now lives in Michigan near my sister and her family they are her caretakers. The photo above is a recent picture of mom and me taken a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting her at the assisted living facility.

It is sad seeing mom becoming frail and even harder leaving her to come home to Florida, where I live. I don't like to see my mom weak she had always been the strong one. She needs assistance to get around, she is very unsteady which is so sad because not that many years ago she was walking ten miles a day, she loved to walk. She also exercised daily, and played golf on a regular basis. But not anymore!

It's hard to believe that Alzheimer's was first discovered in 1906, and that not much has changed about the disease since then.  Currently, at least 44 million people all over the world live with Alzheimer's in spite of the continued efforts through research to find a cure.

I miss having conversations with mom, like we used to. Now I have to remind her who I am. I can call her but she doesn't know it's me, her Bunny baby, as she called me. I will return to see mom again in September, and hold her hand, like I did when I was a small child because I needed her security. The truth is that I still need her security, but she doesn't know that anymore, but I know it, so I'll cling to her as long as I can.

LOVE YOU, MOM!
BUNNY BABY

I'm sharing two of my favorite things today. This beautiful poem from Winnie the Pooh and a bible verse, and passage from my favorite book Streams In Desert

                                           Be still, and know that I am God.
                                                                 Psalm 46:10

There is immense power in stillness. A great saint once said,

"All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent."

The words are pregnant with meaning. A knowledge of this fact would immensely change our ways of working. Instead of restless struggles, we would "sit down" inwardly before the Lord, and would let the Divine forces of His Spirit work out in silence the ends to which we aspire. You may not see or feel the operations of this silent force, but be assured it is always working mightily, and will work for you, if you only get your spirit still enough to be carried along by the currents of its power. Hannah Whitall Smith

We should get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of storm clouds.


One day in Autumn, while on the open prairie, I saw an eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. With his eyes still gleaming like small circles of light, he slowly turned his head, giving one last searching and longing look toward the sky. He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle's domain. It was there he had displayed his splendid strength a thousand times. In those lofty heights, he had played with the lightning and raced the wind. And now, far below his home, the eagle lay dying,. He faced death because ----just once---he forgot and flew too low.

My soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must never lose its skyward look. I must keep faith, I must keep hope, I must keep courage, I must keep Christ. It would be better to crawl immediately from the battlefield than to not be brave. There is no time for my soul to retreat. Keep your skyward look, my soul; keep your skyward look!

We can never see the sunrise by looking toward the west.  
Japanese Proverb

SMILY Face :)

SMILY FACE

My daughter Nicki loved smily face. She had smily face stickers and a shirt, and she drew Smily on her notes or when she wrote letters. After she died I became fonder of smily face because it was something happy that reminded me of Nicki. So after she died Smily had a deeper meaning for me! Losing her led me to research smily face and I learned that the original version of smily face was created by the late Harvey Ross Ball over 50 years ago in Worcester, Massachusetts. He came up with the image in 1963 when he was asked to create a graphic to promote confidence and enthusiasm between employees at work. That's pretty cool way to bring people together, I think! It only took Ball ten minutes to create Smily, and he was only paid $45.00 for his work. The office he worked for then created posters, buttons and other visuals of Smily in hopes that their employees would smile more often during work. Many people and large companies have tried to claim they created Smily because it's so popular, and it has been said that Smily is so basic that it can't be credited to anyone for designing it. But for me the simplicity of Smily with those big dark eyes and a huge smile have made my life happier and sunnier. And Smily helps me smile more often and that causes me to smile bigger and brighter. It's a beautiful thing when something so simple can remind us all to smile more :) And you never know who you may pass by because it could be someone who may need to see your beautiful smile, or maybe someone you work with, or a complete stranger you could be helping. So put your smily on and see what happens. I know I'm going to... Keep smiling :)  Love, Bunny

New Websites

Letting Nicki Go: A Mother's Journey through Her Daughter's Cancer

February 15, 2019

Happy New Year Blog

This year I will begin my blog posts with a bible verse. And since I tend to be a worrier I chose 

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow, will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.


 This verse is so true...(for me) the fact that I worry about things that God will resolve with time... if I have patience. So, I wonder, is it my lack of faith? I don't think so, I think it's human nature, at least for me to doubt myself. So, I have to remind myself to 
"let go and let God",  to trust God! 

 I'm going to work on TRUST this year!

Last year my goal was to finish my manuscript and submit it to be published in 2019, and I did!  I knew before I began writing my book that I would face obstacles along the way. But... it was a passion that I write this book, and I was ready to take on the challenge. So, I prayed and I asked God to give me more faith/TRUST in Him. I felt that God wouldn't give me a challenge without giving me the ability to succeed. 

February 15, 2019 my book "Letting Nicki Go", will be launched/published and available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in major book stores. The book will also be available in the Mayo Clinic gift shops

The sequel to Letting Nicki Go
 "Breathing New Life: Finding Happiness after Tragedy"
will be released  April 2019. 

Please visit my new/updated website bunnyleach.com 
  And also please visit the new Nicki Leach Foundation website www.nickileach.org

Thank you for your kindness ~ I wish you abundant blessings ~ love & peace
  always dream BIG because dreams do come true!
Love & Peace
Bunny