“The real voyage of discovery consists

not in seeking new landscapes

but in having new eyes.”

by

Marcel Proust

I consider myself to be among the walking wounded (as I believe… we all are)… and if we as a people have never felt the infinite void caused by losing a loved one… perhaps a Sister, Brother, Mother or Father or quite possibly, your Mother and your Father within a span of six months as I recently did…or you’ve not yet felt the sting of personal failure, the humility while asking for financial assistance, or needing a handout of food and/or possibly food stamps in order to feed your belly that’s been empty with an ache which seems like an eternity… or had to ask for help feeding yourself because you’re too sick to lift the fork. We all get a turn if we’re blessed to live long enough and that’s a fact… I used these examples from which I pulled from my own personal experiences in life; which indelibly shaped and molded who I am today at this very moment. From these many experiences I’ve come to realize life isn’t always easy, in fact, there are times it felt like a cruel joke, a nightmare that I could slap myself out of… but, if we are willing and prepared to see beyond the hurt, the loss, the pain, the embarrassment, humiliation and setbacks… It is then we are able to see that each breathe is a privilege beyond compare… I for one intend on enjoying each and every beautiful reprieve life offers me, vowing to view each and every loss of a loved one with the acknowledgement of how incredibly blessed I was to have spent time with them, loved them, been loved by them, cared for them to the end… I choose to view set-backs as temporary roadblocks; as an opportunity to shine my brightest.