Monday, January 18, 2010

Keep Perspective

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to give us a dose of perspective.  The earthquake in Haiti is a reminder to us all that what we love and work so hard for, can too easily be gone in an instant.  And while few of us are faced with the magnitude of change brought on by a natural disaster such as that, we do experience our own kind of earthquakes -- those experiences that change the landscape of our lives forever.

2009 was such a time for me -- losing an adored mother, a respected mentor, a beloved pet; becoming an empty-nester and being thrust from a country house with a beautiful view into the heart of a city that is hours away from friends, family, and the comforts of home I've come to depend on.  Admittedly, there are times my life this year has felt like a bad country song (yup, I even lost my truck) when one day, I actually heard a similar country song in which a man responds to the complaints of a friend by saying 'it sounds like life to me.'  Which of course reminded me of my own dear friend who once said: "Best enjoy this life of ours -- we don't get out of it alive."  haha....fair enough....lesson learned.

Life is hard sometimes.  I have yet to meet a person who gets through it unscathed.  And so we may cry through it, scream through it, complain through it -- even hate through it -- bemoaning 'why me?' to God above.  Yup, been there too. 

But I recently saw some other words of wisdom that gave me a mighty dose of perspective:  "How lucky we are to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." 

I had over 4 decades with a mom who loved each of her six children like they were her only one; a dog who turned me from a non-animal-lover to preaching that everyone's gotta have one; four kids who welcomed me on their fantastic childhood adventures; a mentor who gave me the courage to succeed; a career I love; and a home and friends I can't wait to return to come summer.  Lucky indeed.

So "if you're worried and you can't sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep." 

Bring it on, life.  I'm smilin' through ya. :)

-- Cindy

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