Today Is Mine

by Kim Campbell 
​Kim-Campbell.com 

On Wednesday July 13, 2016, I had the privilege of speaking at the Ideagen UN Empowering Women and Girls 2030 Summit.

We started our day by attending the Ideagen U Cross-Sector Innovation Fellows Program at the EU Delegation to the UN.  I was in a large conference room with some of the most brilliant and influential people on the planet!  Robert Moran, a well know futurist, helped open our minds to new ways of looking at the future.  He said, “The future only exists in our minds.  There is only the present.”

This reminded me of what I’ve learned from living with Alzheimer’s. In planning for the future you must not forget to embrace and appreciate the present.  Glen lives in the moment and is teaching me to do the same.
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He recorded a song by Jerry Reed called “Today Is Mine” that inspires me and sums it up pretty well!  I hope it inspires you as well!

Kim Campbell is a Co-founder of the I’ll Be Me Alzheimer’s Fund. She is a member of the Patient/Caregiver Advisory Council for the Alzheimer's and Dementia Patient/Caregiver Powered Research Network (AD-PCPRN), and sits on the board of Abe’s Garden, a memory care community dedicated to providing and elevating the quality of the full spectrum of memory care for those with Alzheimer’s in association with the Vanderbilt Center for Quality Aging (ACQA).

When the sun came up this morning
I took the time to watch it rise
And as its beauty struck the darkness from the sky
I thought how small and unimportant
all my troubles seem to be
And how lucky another day belongs to me
And as the sleepy world around me
woke up to greet the day
All its silent beauties seemed to say
So what, my friend, if all your dreams you haven’t realized
Just look around you
you got a whole new day to try
Today is mine today is mine
to do with what I will
Today is mine
my own special cup to fill
To die a little that I might learn to live
to take from life that I might learn to give
Today is mine
Like most men I cursed the present
So void of peace of mind
And race my thoughts beyond tomorrow
envision there a sweeter time
But as I view this day around me
I can see the fool I’ve been
For today’s the only garden we can tend
Today is mine…