bumps stings and worry get shelved for now...

i did good with coming back into the gratitude.
i mean, it sure isn't hard right now.
between the weather, time outside, so much love all around me,
the birthday celebrating -
it's not hard to sit in the gratitude.

it's amazing tho how stuff bumps ya.
buuuuuuump.

or stings you.
stiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

because that's what life does.
it just does.
it's full of bumps and stings.

and when those come along,  i gotta take a little time to get back to focusing where i should.

at one point, when i was feelin' a little stung about something,
i went down to see my elderly neighbor.
i had some info for her i wanted to drop off.
she's lonely. you can't just drop off info.
you stay.
but i figured it'd give me some good perspective on a busy day
and i somehow knew it'd be some of my most valuable time of the day.

we sat outside and visited.
and sure enough, i watched her and listened to her and
there was no way i couldn't feel gratitude for my health and strength.
for the love all around me.

i watched her and thought about life.
we talked of her past and all the people she had taken care of and
been there for.

she had seen a lot of the hardships life can dish out.
and she's experiencing so many of them every day right now.

i noticed i felt different than i used to.
the sad is still there.
and there's fear for what's ahead.
that's still there.
there's empathy for sure.

and way down deep, real quiet, there seems to be something else.
something new. something that seems to be inside now that wasn't before.

i think it's the beginning of the understanding that life is filled with
both the hard and the good. the mix is exactly that - a mix.
and it is what it is. i think i'm beginning to accept that,understand that.
i mean, like past my head and deeper in.

just beginning, mind you. but i think there's a seed there.

i came back to my life and put the sting i had been feeling aside.
i put down the worry from the other day.
stings, bumps, worry. they're all part of the journey.
life's full of 'em.
it's also full of gardens and new plants and blue skies
and birthday celebrating that starts early and keeps goin'.

there's life to be lived.
all of it.
bumps and stings  and worry and laughter and joy and celebrating.

life is full of all of it.
that's pretty darn cool.