A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eagle hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.     All his life, the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air. 

    Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a
    magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in
    graceful majesty among powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked. "That's the eagle, the king of the birds," said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens." So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was. 

    Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day
    of my life, ever! 

    There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did I'm going to celebrate! 

    Today, I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger. 

    I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy
    heart. I will marvel at God's seemingly simple gifts: the morning
    dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today,
    none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice. 

    Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I'll
    make someone smile. I'll go out of my way to perform an
    unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know. Today, I'll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I'll tell a child how special he is, and I'll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me. 

    Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don't have and start
    being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given
    me. I'll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just
    fine. 

    And tonight, before I go to bed, I'll go outside and raise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the
    moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures. 

    As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because I know
    tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

    I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a major insurance
    company. I told him honestly that the principal reason that I was
    interviewing with them was my need to keep my family in Boston.
    My wife of 26 years had recently died of a heart attack. A job in
    Boston would help me reduce some of the extreme trauma and pain
    of the loss for my 16-year-old daughter. It was important to me to
    keep her in her present high school. 

    I could still barely talk about the loss of my wife. Bruce, the
    interviewer, was politely empathetic, but he didn't probe any
    further. He acknowledged my loss and, with great respect, moved
    on to another subject. 

    After the next round of interviews, Bruce took me to lunch with
    another manager. Then he asked me to take a walk with him. He
    told me that he, too, had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also
    been married 20 years and had three children. In his sharing, I
    realized that he had experienced the same pain as I had - a pain that
    was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a
    loved one. He offered his business card and home phone number
    and suggested that, should I need help or just want someone to talk
    to, I should feel free to give him a call. Whether I got the job or
    not, he wanted me to know that he was there if I ever needed help. 

    From that one act of kindness, when he had no idea if we would
    ever see each other again, he helped our family deal with one of
    life's greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business
    interview process into an act of caring and support for another
    person in time of extreme need.