Life is made up of moments. Moments that take your breath away, moments that leave you frustrated and confused, moments that can change your life in a blink of an eye, and moments that change you into an entirely different person. So than why is it that most of the time we fail to recognize a moment as it is happening? It only occurs to us as we are floundering in the wake of a moment, that something has happened to us, something has shifted the world a little to the right, and is causing us to reassess and reconfirm all that we think we know and think we need.
Every time you turn around these days, there is a report on the news of a devastating tragedy. It causes you to stop and take notice of the world around you for a brief moment in time, but it's not your tragedy, so you tuck the horror and grief away and move on with your world, because the reality is, it didn't happen to you and you are knee deep in your own life treading water. In the back of your mind though, you hear the echo of a thought: How long before it could happen to you? You try to ignore it but this much is certain...you know all things in life are a possibility and maybe you could be doing more to help others around you.
A moment is all someone needs to know you care; that you love them, and that their place in this world is being acknowledge and validated. A hug, a kind word, a smile, taking the time to actually listen to what someone is saying to you...all these things can turn someone’s bad moment into a great one.
This weekend, I experienced a moment, and I had the clarity to realize, as it was happening, that this was a big deal. I turned 30, gasp! I spent the entire weekend surrounded by people I love, people that love me, and I knew in that moment that I was the luckiest girl in the world. I have this amazing group of people around me that want nothing more than for me to be completely and utterly happy and they would move mountains to make it happen. What did I do to deserve such wonderful people in my life? I will never know for sure but I will forever be grateful. What I do know is that I cannot take it for granted, I need to take the time to show my gratitude, love, and support to my family and my friends because these are the moments that I will remember and that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
Moments, good or bad, define whom we are solely on how we chose to approach them, deal with them, accept them, and help someone through them. What will you chose to do with your moments? How will you help others get through their moments?
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Endings and Beginnings...
May is, for many, a month of endings heaped full of the anticipation of fresh starts and new beginnings. All things in this world have a natural beginning and end, it is the cycle of life, and we are all in-tune to it, some more in-tune than others. And yet, when we stumble upon the end of something we are often left confused, scared, and wondering what our future will hold and how we will manage.
May for me is a month of endings...The school year, that at times seems to fly by and at other times creeps forward centimeter by centimeter, is winding to a close and I often find myself wondering: "What does the future hold for my kiddoes?" I've spent months helping to shape and educate these kids, whom already possess such proud and keenly developed personalities, into who they will be when they grow up, although I am whole-heartedly aware that I will only impact just a sliver of their futures. I want to shout at them "YOU are somebody, I will always believe in you, and I will always be here for you." These kids will move on in life, but they will always occupy a corner of my heart, for they continue to shape me into the person that I am and the person that I am destined to be. Yet, the ache of letting them go and not being able to protect them and guide them is a hard one because I have grown to love these kids, quirks and all, and my worry for them is fresh and pulsating underneath my skin and in my heart.
I have spent an amazing few months with my incredible Student Intern. She has taught me more than she will ever know. She is the kindest, most caring, and most grounded in faith person I have ever met. Our ending this week will be a bittersweet one. She is ready graduate, to go out into the world, find her place, and change the world. There is not a doubt in my heart that she WILL change the world one child at a time. When you have a hand in being someones mentor their hopes become your hopes, their dreams become your dreams, and you feel their excitements and their disappointments just as sharply as they do. All I want in this world is for her to have all her dreams in life come true. She will be an amazing educator but she is an even more amazing person and it has been truly an honor to work with her and learn from her everyday.
As hard as the endings are there is always the bright promise of a new beginning. With the ending of a school year comes the promise of long, hot, lazy summer days spent by the pool, catching up with friends, and spending much needed time with your families. You are given time to reflect, learn, sometimes regroup, and figure out a better more exciting game plan for your new beginning. You slowly become more confident in who you are, more settled into your skin, and you know you will be ok, more often than not, though, it takes an ending to figure that out.
May is my month of endings but the anticipation of my new beginnings has me on the edge of my seat...I can't wait to see what is to come, despite of what I have to endure to get to them. What will you do with your new beginnings?
May for me is a month of endings...The school year, that at times seems to fly by and at other times creeps forward centimeter by centimeter, is winding to a close and I often find myself wondering: "What does the future hold for my kiddoes?" I've spent months helping to shape and educate these kids, whom already possess such proud and keenly developed personalities, into who they will be when they grow up, although I am whole-heartedly aware that I will only impact just a sliver of their futures. I want to shout at them "YOU are somebody, I will always believe in you, and I will always be here for you." These kids will move on in life, but they will always occupy a corner of my heart, for they continue to shape me into the person that I am and the person that I am destined to be. Yet, the ache of letting them go and not being able to protect them and guide them is a hard one because I have grown to love these kids, quirks and all, and my worry for them is fresh and pulsating underneath my skin and in my heart.
I have spent an amazing few months with my incredible Student Intern. She has taught me more than she will ever know. She is the kindest, most caring, and most grounded in faith person I have ever met. Our ending this week will be a bittersweet one. She is ready graduate, to go out into the world, find her place, and change the world. There is not a doubt in my heart that she WILL change the world one child at a time. When you have a hand in being someones mentor their hopes become your hopes, their dreams become your dreams, and you feel their excitements and their disappointments just as sharply as they do. All I want in this world is for her to have all her dreams in life come true. She will be an amazing educator but she is an even more amazing person and it has been truly an honor to work with her and learn from her everyday.
As hard as the endings are there is always the bright promise of a new beginning. With the ending of a school year comes the promise of long, hot, lazy summer days spent by the pool, catching up with friends, and spending much needed time with your families. You are given time to reflect, learn, sometimes regroup, and figure out a better more exciting game plan for your new beginning. You slowly become more confident in who you are, more settled into your skin, and you know you will be ok, more often than not, though, it takes an ending to figure that out.
May is my month of endings but the anticipation of my new beginnings has me on the edge of my seat...I can't wait to see what is to come, despite of what I have to endure to get to them. What will you do with your new beginnings?
"I wanted a perfect ending...
Now, I've learned the hard way that some poems
don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear
beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing,
having to change, taking the moment and
making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity."Gilda Radner
Now, I've learned the hard way that some poems
don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear
beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing,
having to change, taking the moment and
making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity."Gilda Radner
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