Surrounded

This past weekend I found myself surrounded; by people who love my children and people who love me. Friends and family were with me and my girls to celebrate my oldest and to revel in tradition. I had planned and worried, I had wrung my hands and I had sweated the details, and in the end it all worked out. And in the end it was better than I could have imagined.

At one point I found myself looking around at all the people who were in attendance and I was overwhelmed; with joy and appreciation; with gratitude and peace. People traveled across the country to be with us and people traveled across the city for a day. People logged in to watch from far away and people sat with us in wonder. We were all together for a weekend and a moment. We were all together to pass on tradition. We were all  together to think about those who were no longer there.

In feeling the presence of those who were with us physically or virtually, I also felt the presence of those who were with us spiritually. I was surrounded by love. I was surrounded by spirit. I was surrounded by feelings of joy and delight, of sadness and loss- all mixed together just like the people in attendance. It is a wondrous feeling to have people who will be with you just because. It is an honor to think about those who touched your life in the past and whose memory you bring forth at those moments. It was a weekend that I was honored to have people in my life who care so very much. It was a feeling of divine grace that I will forever cherish.

This is the life.
-a