What a Wonderful World

Last Sunday was a special day for me. Read about
it tonight. I also recorded a song.
The link to my singing is after the story. I
always thought I did this song well. It gets
a good round of applause, when I do it for
Karaoke. However, after hearing myself,
I disagree.

You be the judge.

It’s a Wonderful World

It was 6:05 AM on October 18, 1959. A
baby boy opened his eyes and saw the
world for the first time. What he saw scared him.
He cried. The nurses placed him in his
mother’s arms. His crying stopped as he nursed.
He felt the warmth and love of the
woman who carried him for nine months. He was
comforted.

It’s now October 18, 2009 and the baby
boy just turned fifty. He sees the world
in a new way. In the last fifty years, he has
seen and experienced great things. He learned
that not all is scary in the world. There are
many beautiful things in life. It’s a wonderful
world.

That baby boy was me.

On this day, I look back on my life and know the hills I climbed made me
stronger. At the top of the hills, I saw beauty
all around. It’s the beauty I couldn’t see
while nestled in the valleys of grieve or
hardship.

Many of my stories focus on those times in the valley. I write about them,
because it heals. You, the reader, are my therapist. Many of you have experienced
the same and can relate.

There’s a wonderful world out there for
us to experience. I climbed my
mountains, saw the wonderful world, and liked it.
I’ve lost much but gained more.

What’s a wonderful world? It’s a morning when I’m off from work, and my
stepdaughter comes down the stairs holding my
granddaughter in her arms. The
granddaughter heard my voice and said, in one of
the first three-word sentences, said, “Poppa …Mike …Home!

“ She turned the corner of the stairs and gave me a big smile.

That’s a wonderful world.

A wonderful world is going to bed at
night and reaching out to my wife. She
snuggles close and says, “I love you.”

A wonderful world is waking in the
morning to that same woman, feeling her
warmth, and moving closer for a few more minutes
of being with her.

A wonderful world is hugging her goodbye
in the morning and hugging hello in
the evening.

A beautiful world is having a day together to do nothing but be together.

My daughter called and wished me a happy birthday. That’s a wonderful world.

My mother, the beautiful person who
raised me, called. “Happy Birthday. I can’t
believe my baby is fifty.”

“Thanks for reminding me, Mum.!”

“Stop it!” She laughed. “How do you think I feel? I’m the mother of the old man.”

I can’t be with her. She’s thousands of
miles away, but we can still talk on the
phone. That’s a wonderful world.

Ginny and I sit at the top of the hill
and enjoy the beauty, because we never
know when we will slip into the valley again.

Enjoy life. Stay on the top of the mountain, because it is a wonderful world.

Michael T. Smith

MY VERSION OF “WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD”
http://www.singsnap.com/snap/watchAndListen/play/c6122c4b0

Story ID:	5426
Written by:	Michael Timothy Smith (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Story
Location:	Caldwell Idaho USA
Year:	2009
Person:	Me