Day 84: A New Normal

I spent today at my parents home, located in a quaint town in Idaho, population 2785 - where the air is clean, the summers are cool and the streets are wide. I was surprised at the comfort I found in being home, and the appreciation I felt for the familiar. These feelings were absent just one short year ago.

I loaded Gracie into mom's dainty umbrella stroller, and we enjoyed an evening amble down the road I grew up on, the little stroller vibrating with glee. I inhaled deeply, holding the bracing mountain air in my lungs and borrowing energy from the cool breeze dancing across my face. "This is the stuff life is made of," I thought to myself. "Everything's gonna be alright." In that moment, I felt immense relief in the realization that life has finally began moving on. I feel normal. I feel happy. I even feel complete (most of the time).

My life is different than it was, but I'm ok with that. I'm on a new path I never fathomed I would travel, yet I'm grateful for it. Today I realized I have let go of what was, and fully embrace what is. And it is good.

TODAY'S FOCUS: When the life we planned for is trespassed by change, it's all too easy to get caught up in what we've lost and miss what we might become. Life moves on, whether we like it or not, and what was once normal must be redefined, again and again. As we find the strength to let go of what was, opportunities of the future begin to present themselves abundantly. Press forward one day at a time,because, no matter the change, with time, normal will always return.

QUOTE: “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” -Alexander Graham Bell