“The events of the past always color how we view the present and future, so it’s important to put them into a useful perspective. We do have that choice…we choose the lens through which we see the world. So now, as I’m looking into an uncertain future it strikes me…isn’t it always uncertain to some extent?

So much has happened in my little corner of the world this year. My Mom passed through the veil, several friends have experienced trauma and life-threatening illness, one is currently in the hospital prognosis unknown. It’s been so difficult to find the good in it all.

But, as I sit here, sipping a cup of tea, with a pan of brownies in the oven, warm, safe and comfortable, I know there is good to be found. Not as much in the grand things, but in the small everyday things we tend to take for granted. It’s in the love and support of family both blood and chosen, friends, and community. It’s in being healthy enough to go grocery shopping and cook…and having the funds to do so. It’s in sharing experiences and time with friends…and the stories that are the result of those times. It’s in being there when someone needs what you have to offer.

People have stepped up to help me in ways both large and small, from listening to me pour out my grief, giving me lifts to events to putting in a walkway to make my home accessible for my new scooter (yay!). Thank you.

There is, indeed, pain in the world, more than enough to go around, and we all have some. Remember, though, that the ability to sense pain is a good thing. It warns us when there is danger, it’s the signal that something is wrong. The thing is, we can choose to see it as a barrier to joy or as a jump-start to change. Going forward, I choose to focus on the simple day-to-day pleasures of good food, good friends, good times. I choose to use those things to fuel me enough to offer what good I can to those around me.

As individuals, the choices we make can seem small and insignificant. But as a drop of water becomes a powerful river when it joins with other drops, together we can change the world. So choose wisely.”

-Debbie Rosenberg