Change. Grow. Be happy.

Life is about change.  It's always our choice to grow with the changing tides or stand still until they crash down around us.

Even though it's been almost four years, the details of that morning are still so fresh.  I think a lot of people say that about the moment they found out that they lost someone they loved.  I remember the phone ringing and each word that hung in the air as my brother told me on a long distance call that she was gone.  The packing and the rush to get home.  The disbelief. 

My mom passed away in her sleep in February, 2008.  My uncle spoke in his eulogy about her watching the moonlight bounce off the Chesapeake Bay as she took her last breath.  My dad spoke of St. Francis of Assisi and the way he lived his life fully, completely, and bravely, straight through to the end.  That was to make an "art of life," and that was his Marsha Beth.  And my mom.  The one who sang me to sleep as a child and made me believe as an adult. 

The things my uncle and my dad said the day we told her goodbye stuck with me.  In the years since, I have become committed to notice the moonlight and to live more like St. Francis.  I think that changing point in my life had a positive impact on the person I am.

I've found that in recent years, my priorities have shifted a bit.  More towards embracing the little moments and away from all of the other noise.  The things that don't matter.  In doing so, my heart is so full.  Somtimes, I feel like it might burst.

I guess this blog will be about my own response to the changing seasons of life.  We all are responsible for making our own way.  For chosing to be kind and giving.  And happy.  It's the way I honor her.