Life? I always liked the cinnamon best.

Remember that time when you thought you had everything you ever wanted and more?  I do.  Remember that time when you thought you couldn’t possibly feel more lost and that things couldn’t get worse?  I do.  Life is a funny thing; just when you think you have it all, you lose your grip and can only watch as it runs through your fingers.  On the flipside; there are those times when you think you will never know happiness again, until you can’t seem to stop smiling.  People enter and exit your life; sometimes faster than you’d like them to.  Others stick around, but act like a TV channel that comes in some days and not others, no matter how much time you spend messing with the damn antenna.  There are those times when you have too much time to think and times when you are too preoccupied to think at all.  I find myself currently dealing with the former.  Is that a good or a bad thing?  Well, it’s complicated.  When you have time to think, your mind will usually go one of two ways (mine does, at least); you will either reminisce about the past or envision your future.  Sure, you may ponder on the present, but that’s not always as interesting.  Regardless of what you find yourself thinking about, you will inevitably come across happy times and sad times alike.  There is no past without hardships and there is no future without obstacles.  But it’s that glimmer of hope that keeps us going; it’s that voice in our head telling us that the future holds limitless opportunity and joy that will counteract the loss and sadness.  Likewise, when we think about the past, there will be times when we think about something that never fails to make us hurt all over again, but then we remember the happy events that came after.  That is life…an experience filled with ups and downs, but is ultimately only what we make of it.

Clean-up on aisle "Life"

It’s tough to see the structure you’ve built over a long period of time tumble and fall into a heap of indiscernible rubble.  It’s hard to rummage through the debris and collect the bits and pieces of the experiences you’ve had, the people you’ve met and the obstacles you overcame.  You sit and look over the scene and wonder what could have prevented the fall; what could you have done differently and would it have changed where you find yourself today?  That question is, of course, irrelevant; we cannot change the past, no matter how much we would like to.  You soon accept what has happened, store those memories you wish to retain and move on.  There is a short period of time where you are floating forward in a dream-like state, separated from reality as the truth sinks in.  When you snap out of your slumber, you find yourself in a new place with all the materials you need to start over.  You then realize that you have the opportunity to build something stronger than before, using your previous experiences as mortar.  Brick by brick, day by day, you start to see things develop as you encounter similar obstacles that stand in your way; and you face them with a smile, because you’ve done this before and you know that you're stronger than you were before.  You don’t give up; this is why you're here, this is what you do.  Look up and give Him a wink; then tell yourself, "I got this", and do your thing, kid, because He's your biggest fan and He's always rooting for you.