Lifestyles gets a visit from Navy Veteran Deanna Richardson

Written by Deanna Richardson, BU2 in the United States Navy Reserves

Today I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Lifestyles for the Disabled located on Staten Island, NY. It is a day facitlity for a broad range of disabled adults. At Lifestyles they teach them pertinent life skills as well as engage these adults in a myraid of activities. My brother, Joel Richardson, runs the radio station at Lifestyles. My reason for visiting the facility was to meet some of the guys and share a little about my recent deployment in the Middle East. One of the DJ’s (as they liked to be called), James “the Grey Ghost” is a huge supporter of the military. He proudly wears his Marine cover that was given to him by a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. I shared with James some pictures from my deployment and explained to him what our mission was. He was an intent listener, and he even got to interview me for a podacst for their radion station. Now, you may be thinking, great you visited your brother at work, shared some of your military stories, blah blah blah. However, I took away a bigger lesson from today’s visit than I ever imagined. I went in thinking I would be sharing with these guys and possibly impacting them, boy was I wrong. I learned that kindess and compassion knows no limits, and that happiness is all what you make of it. Here are these adult men and women who have been dealt a pretty difficult hand mentally and physically in life. Yet, you rarely saw a face without a smie on it.

Now here I am, some days are awesome for me and others I am on the brink of screaming at the top of my lungs, yet I am a healthy 27 year old with a beautiful house and family, good job, and great health…I should have no complaints. When I saw all of these smiling faces and shining personalities I was taken aback and took a minute to think, why is it so hard for me to find the happiness that radiates from the participants at Lifestyles. So, on my 2 hr. drive home I made a promise to myself that I woud not gripe if my 2 yr. old daughter spilled juice on my work outfit I just spent 30 min. ironing, or if my day did not go exactly as I planned, or if the laundry was left until the next day because we decided to play outside, I decided instead to SMILE. I now choose happiness over sadness, smiling over griping, and finding the positive instead of complaining, and all thanks to the kind souls at Lifestyles. Thank you Joel for inviting me to visit, and thank you to all of the participants at Lifestyles. KEEP ON SMILING!