Welcome to my weekly adventure to “Occupy the Blog-o-Sphere” each Thursday. I offer this hopefully uplifting picture and message to brighten your day and bring something buoyant into your life. As you move through your day with a renewed outlook, may you pass it along.

You’re never too old. It’s never too late. 

I prefer to avoid absolutes (both the vodka and the use of words that indicate unconditional/unrestricted provisions such as “always” or “never”) because using absolute statements always gets you into trouble, but I’m going to have to ignore myself on this one. You should, too. My inspirational message this week has two absolutes. I suppose I could have said the same thing a different way: Resist the urge to give up  because your dreams might possibly come true at any moment. But something gets lost in the translation. I was trying to be pithy and profound. To do that, I resorted to using absolutes.

What prompted this message, the abrogation of my own rules of linguistic sanity, and that unnecessarily wordy explanation? Finally. A simple answer to a compound question. My mom. We (my sisters and I) recently found out that she has always wanted a pair of diamond stud earrings. She will be 79 this year and this is the first we heard of it. Apparently she mentioned it off-handedly during a chat with my younger sister’s daughter and word spread (as word does among us “girls”).

I know I’m completely…understandably…a bit biased, but I must tell you that my mom is the best mom and dad that a girl could want. She was left with three young children to raise on her own after my dad killed himself. She wanted to protect us from any trouble a step-father could bring into a family of three girls, so she chose to remain single. My mom made sure that each of her girls had what we needed and she went without to give us the best she could afford.

For Mother’s Day, we pooled our resources and gave her the best diamond stud earrings we could afford. She received them during the Derby Day Party–the only time all of us would be together until after Mother’s Day.

My younger sister had a jeweler select the diamonds. Wow did they sparkle, but not as much as Mom’s eyes did when she opened that box.

So, you see. It’s never too late and you’re never too old. My mom never expected to own a pair of diamond stud earrings.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom, and to all the “best” moms out there!

What dazzling surprises are waiting for you? You’ll only find out if never give up!

Click on this link to find out more about joining this cyber-movement to lighten up and brighten up our world so you can decide if you want to be part of it.