"Who's to say if I've been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good." One of my favorite lines from Wicked. It's one of those lines that makes me think about all the people who have come in and out of my life- some for a short time, some forever- but all have made an impact. Because of everyone who's been in my life, I have been changed in some way.
All of these people and all of these encounters made me who I am today. They have taught me compassion, that I need to be more patient, that I need to be more tolerant, that I need to watch my tongue. That words can hurt and emotions can turn very quickly. They've taught me that I am not perfect and that not everyone sees me the way I see myself or the way I want to be seen.
But my family and my friends and my children and the people I have known since I was born and the people I have known since last week have also taught me forgiveness, how to have an open heart, how to look at a situation with new eyes.
People whom I have loved and lost have taught me that I am capable of opening myself and my heart up to someone, that I am able to give without expectation of having love returned, that I can walk away with a broken heart and not a broken spirit.
The people I have befriended have shown me that friends can be family- friends can sustain you when you think you cannot take another step, when you cannot see beyond today, when getting to next week seems an eternity. My friends have taught me that we are not our double-chins or our size 0 jeans or our marital status. My friends have taught me that love comes in many forms, for many people, in many ways.
From my family I have learned that anger can soften over time. That love means saying you're sorry and meaning it. That being a family means you are bound by time and by lineage that distance or separation cannot undo. Sharing a past means knowing who someone is now by understanding who they were then.
My children have made me understand that I am stronger than I ever thought. That I may be impatient and imperfect but I am also understanding and underestimated. That I can hold them on my shoulders and we can wade through the deepest water and we can look back and appreciate that we have each other to hold onto. My children show me each day what hope looks like, what love sounds like, what gratitude feels like.
For everyone in my life now and then, here and gone, yesterday and tomorrow, I am changed by you all. "Who's to say if I've been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good."
This is the life.
- a
All of these people and all of these encounters made me who I am today. They have taught me compassion, that I need to be more patient, that I need to be more tolerant, that I need to watch my tongue. That words can hurt and emotions can turn very quickly. They've taught me that I am not perfect and that not everyone sees me the way I see myself or the way I want to be seen.
But my family and my friends and my children and the people I have known since I was born and the people I have known since last week have also taught me forgiveness, how to have an open heart, how to look at a situation with new eyes.
People whom I have loved and lost have taught me that I am capable of opening myself and my heart up to someone, that I am able to give without expectation of having love returned, that I can walk away with a broken heart and not a broken spirit.
The people I have befriended have shown me that friends can be family- friends can sustain you when you think you cannot take another step, when you cannot see beyond today, when getting to next week seems an eternity. My friends have taught me that we are not our double-chins or our size 0 jeans or our marital status. My friends have taught me that love comes in many forms, for many people, in many ways.
From my family I have learned that anger can soften over time. That love means saying you're sorry and meaning it. That being a family means you are bound by time and by lineage that distance or separation cannot undo. Sharing a past means knowing who someone is now by understanding who they were then.
My children have made me understand that I am stronger than I ever thought. That I may be impatient and imperfect but I am also understanding and underestimated. That I can hold them on my shoulders and we can wade through the deepest water and we can look back and appreciate that we have each other to hold onto. My children show me each day what hope looks like, what love sounds like, what gratitude feels like.
For everyone in my life now and then, here and gone, yesterday and tomorrow, I am changed by you all. "Who's to say if I've been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good."
This is the life.
- a
Comments
Post a Comment