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Dear friends,

This week I was particulary thinking of being old or growing old and how some people, somehow maintain their youth and their heart is forever you and pure. I am proud to say I know such people and those people are dear to my heart. I guess that what ages us prematurely is thinking ill of ourself and thinking ill of other, the lack of communication and the lack of peace and quiet in our hearts. We think highly of so many material things that we forget to enjoy the moments that pass by us... This is why I love children. Thir heart is still pure and they are not made perverse by the world and the things that surround them - well at least until a certain age... and unfortunately that age decreases rapidly... I remember finding the drawing/sketch below on the pavement in one of my walks back home in Iasi - Romania - and it instantly put a smile on my face. A kid drew a butterfly, big and colorful, and wrote just next to it "Just stay kid!"  It was like the quote/advice of the day! :)
The quote “I almost wish we were butterflies and livd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain” comes from the Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne. And I must admit I did my research and the average life span of a butterfly is usually about one month. Try to compress and zip your life in one month and tell me what would you do... Kids are like that, they think not of the things that grown-ups usually do. They most beautiful day for them would be the day when they would eat icecream and run along the alley or playing hide and seek, or just sitting inside and watching a funny movie. True, they are not grown-up and they have not yet faced the harshness and the struggle that is life but does that also mean that the grown-ups should always frown and try to look serious and forget about the little things in life that could make them happy? I think not! I - for one - wish not to grow old at heart and be happy and thankful for the little things :) How about you? What have you decided? To frown or not to frown - to have a happy heart or a heart fill with worries?

Yours truly,
A LadyBug Who Loves Butterflies

Dear friends,

Lately I stumbled into some nice info on people/babies born in the Autumn time :)

Have a birthday in September, October, or November? Lucky you. You may have above-average chances of living an extra-long life.
In a recent study, researchers from the University of Chicago looked at data from more than 1,500 people who were born between 1880 and 1895 and who lived to be 100 or older. The researchers compared that data with the birth months and life spans of nearly 12,000 of the centenarians’ siblings and spouses.
The majority of people who lived an extra-long life were born between September and November, the researchers reported in the Journal of Aging Research. Birthdays in March, May, and July produced 40 percent fewer centenarians.
This chart looks at mental illnesses: The purple rectangles denote a higher likelihood of developing psychiatric disorders. Babies born in March fare the worst, while those born in autumn and winter are much less likely to develop mental illnesses
This final chart examines the nervous system: The blue rectangles show the likelihood of babies born in each month developing disorders concerned with the brain. Those born in April are more likely to develop Parkinsons, narcolepsy, MS, motor neuron disease and have lower IQs.