I know I haven't posted much lately, but I am still around. I've been pretty busy with my son being in a Drum Corp this summer. I follow them on social media every time they compete or perform. Plus, I have been writing a lot lately, just not as many song lyrics or poems. I wish it were a paying gig, but I'm just happy to be writing regularly. It makes me feel accomplished.
Today I need to take a moment to express my feelings. In the past year I have had four friends lose their spouses. It just so happens they are all women who have lost their husbands. Two had ill husbands and two were very unexpected. I didn't know the husbands, but when I found out about the loss, I felt it in a way I didn't expect. First, my heart goes out to these women, who now have to face life as usual without the person that helped get them there. All these ladies were happily married, so I can't even begin to imagine the pain this must have caused them. I think about them and pray that they will find strength and happiness.These women have lost the men they loved and built a family and life with and yet, they have given me hope and some extra oomph to fight for myself. Love is so much more than a couple being in love or a parent/child's love or love for an irreplaceable friend. Love is life. You have to love everything in and about life to succeed. I don't mean succeed like a highly profitable business or love everything down to the smallest creatures. I mean, love starts with you, loving yourself enough to be able to love others. Loving life and all that happens in life, good and bad, enough to fight for your well being. These women are confident and strong on any given day, but when you lose the one that stands beside you, it can hurt and cause doubt. These ladies have carried on, missing their husbands, but living life. I am so lucky to have women like them in my life to remind me that life goes on and you will be happy and whole again.
So tell your loved ones you love them, share a smile with a stranger, call an old friend or relative just to say hi, sit in the park alone for lunch and take in the world or sit with your kids and listen to them babble about nothing and watch their faces. We can all prevail, if we have hope and love.
