in between

Sometimes with the kids, I feel like life speeds by so fast I get winded and don't take the time to slow down and look up. There's always something going on or somewhere to be. I'm always looking ahead to those bigger moments and lose sight of the journey in between.

The every day, simple, at first glance boring things can also be the extraordinary. Sometimes I'm afraid that it's all passing us too quick. The days are all a blur.

I don't want a blurred life. I want the "pause-and-reflect", "soak-and-absorb" life. Not the pace of events and busyness and full schedules, but the in between. The don't blink because this may seem so simple, so seemingly insignificant, but it's not. It's incredible, special and full of possibility. The possibility of greatness.

And in that moment, that greatness, there's a sense of calm and well-being. Because you noticed. You grasped. And you held on tighter than ever before.

resilience in my back pocket

For any of those out there in the know, or out of the know, I had a rough day a few weeks back.

My wallet was stolen, and then cards within were used to make many purchases at a nearby mall. 

Humble experience, let me tell you. 

All of this, of course, had to happen on my busiest of weeks under the pressure of learning and adding a new job. 

But really, is there ever a good time to have your wallet stollen? Maybe when it's old, empty and two steps away from the trash can.....

A few days after all this chaos I was in a computer lab, training with some fellow new employees. After I shared my stolen wallet incident, one of the ladies I was sitting next to stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't believe this. You are working 60 hours a week, your husband is in school full time, you have two kids, and your wallet was stolen. And here you are helping me point and click on this new computer program. If I were you I would be a puddle on the floor."

I quickly laughed off the remark.

"And now you're laughing," she added.

I'll admit, I don't take this sort of observation lightly. And by no means am I trying to be proud or boastful or a complete full-of-myself or pity me-version of Aimee. I'm also not trying to ask the universe for more challenges or obstacles to prove what I'm made of.

I'd like to consider this a learning opportunity about our ability to have a buoyant resilience. Something that is as much a part of us as our ideals and values. It is our ability to take what we can out of a situation and recover from it. Or learn from it. Or grow from it. Or chalk it up to improving our karma.

There are situations in real life that do suck. And I don't want to compare stories, or pull out the measuring stick to put one hardship over another. I really do believe it is all in the eye of the beholder.

Perspective. Humor. Gratitude. These are all handy tools I pull out when life comes in full force and puts on a show of the unexpected. I know that I've become the reactor that I am because of the background that I have. That's the beauty in all this. We all have different starting and finishing lines, and somewhere in the middle, within that race to where we're going...we find it. What makes us bounce back, tie our laces tighter, and throw dirt on the wounds we have so we can forge on. The great thing about that grit, the sweat and tears...our persevering resilience finds its steady beat. And from that point on, we'll never be without it.