Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened…..

Oh, Dr. Suess, I love you.  And I love this quote.  I was reminded of it today as I was helping pack up a good friend’s house as she begins a new journey.  This afternoon was spent with dear friends who are more like family, wine, stories, laughs and hugs.  Putting someone’s whole life and history into the back of a U-Haul makes you take inventory yourself somehow.

One of the things I realized while cleaning cabinets and talking was that sometimes we do not SEE what is right in front of us.  When we put our heads down and are just getting by ourselves, we are missing gifts and glories that could be received from so many others.  My dear friend who we were packing up today has been here for years, but, as so many things are, was possibly taken for granted by me.  She is a light and a love and to spend time with her is to come away feeling lighter and brighter.  But again, the head down, move forward, self focused place we inhabit sometimes does not allow for the connections we need.  And connections we need indeed.

I am so excited for my friend.  This will be a great move and I know that success and happiness will follow in her wake.  But it is a lesson for me that my life is only partly mine.  My life also belongs to those I chose to share it with.  And I hope to choose wisely.  I have been so blessed, lucky, lightning struck, whatever you chose to call it, with the people inhabiting my circle.  True friends, true love, truth.

So, Paula H., I will be with you in love and in spirit, I will be sending my heart and my hope along with you and I will be smiling for the times we had and breathing for the times to come.  Xxoo