Dear Universe,

In life we often remember “moments.”  Whether they were ones that stole our breath, ones that we anticipated or ones that we’d rather forget—somehow life can be strung together in a series of moments—almost like a photo album of our lives.

Birth, first steps, first birthday, first day of school, first friend, first dance, first kiss, first job, first love, marriage, children, renewed life, and so it goes…

Recently I was thinking how often the sad moments and memories can outweigh the happy ones.  Why is it we have such a capacity to remember with vivid clarity the stumbles, the heartbreaks, the sicknesses, the deaths, the losses?

I realize we can’t erase those moments any more than we can recreate the happy-once-in-a-lifetime ones.

So I wondered if there was a way to take those bad moments—the ones we’d rather forget—and view the memory in a different light.  What was the lesson learned?  What’s the takeaway?  How can I reflect in a way that is purposeful and helpful to the person I want to be?

I started to look back and in each “bad moment” there was always something positive that came out of it.  (Yes, sometimes I had to really think hard, but something was there.)

Maybe it was the way I was pushed in a new direction, had an epiphany, changed my perspective, learned a valuable life lesson or met a person that inspired me.

And maybe it’s this…

Maybe it’s the way the people closest to me rush to cocoon me when I am at my lowest and when I need it most without me having to ask.  It’s the way they hug me a little harder, hold me a little closer and love me a lot more.

I think I’d rather focus on the love than all the hurt or pain.

Not many people can call themselves lucky, but in that respect—the amount of love and support I have around me—well, I may just be the luckiest girl in the world.

Scratch that— the luckiest girl in the universe.  🙂

Much Gratitude,

A