Life sure can be amazing and wonderful when everything is going well. It can also be tiring and trying when it is not.

We all know the good by far outweighs the bad. But, it is pretty unbelievable how the bad part of life seems to come in waves of threes — as my mom used to tell me.

Somewhere she failed to explain when it happened in fives and sixes. However, I do remember her saying, “When you think it is as bad as it can get, it can still get worse.”

The older you get, the more you realize how true that is.

It seems life has a way of overwhelming you at certain times. I feel that way today.

I am having a hard time staying focused on any one thing, since so many other things are springing into my mind to take my focus away. I have several columns running through my head, but am having difficulty writing this one.

This year has not been very nice to me and my family. I am going to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be a challenging year when I wrote my first column for the year with the headline, “2017: Bring it On!”

Somehow I felt an impending doom when I wrote those words and that is why I used that title. I wanted it to begin and let it happen and get it over with. Luckily, 2017 is half way over and it has to get better!

As any mother knows, it is easier to handle your own misfortunes than when bad things happens to your child or grandchild. Even my sister’s cancer affected me harder than my own cancer.

Sometimes, you wonder how much one family can take to uproot their lives. Some people go through more than the average person.

I especially want to brag on my angel, Simon, who has gone through more than anyone should ever have to and is the bravest little person I have ever seen.

Despite what all he has gone through, he remains so stoic with life. He is at the mercy of life and will never be able to dictate his own life. However, with all the love he has received in his life, he just goes through whatever life deals him!

If I had one wish in life for him, it would be that this child never knew any pain the rest of his life and only felt love.

He has taught me more than any other living being I have ever met in his little 10 years of life. This past week has been hard for him and his family, but as usual, they have handled it outwardly with confidence.

This past week, while Simon was in the hospital. I watched him, no bigger than a two- or three-year-old due to his dwarfism, never cry as the nurses came to aggravate his little body. With no tears or complaints he accepted whatever life was about to give him.

I wondered if it was because he has already gone through so much in his short life or he just thinks it won’t make any difference.

If he has accepted life, even though he can not walk or talk, then why can’t we? I have finally learned through Simon we are all at the mercy of life.

Sometimes, decisions we make change life, but we made them and we have to go on with life no matter the outcome.

I think Simon knows that the love he has felt from others is important and it is important we treat everyone with love!

Every Sunday at church our pastor tells us to pray for those sitting beside us because we do not know what they are going through. How true that statement is. I do not care who you are, we all have our own set of problems and we all need prayers.

I am hoping you lighten up with me and my family, 2017, and leave everyone else with good days ahead!

Sue Staton is a Clark County native who grew up in the Kiddville area. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.