Last week I had the pleasure of crashing my friend’s birthday breakfast.  Us girls always try to gather for birthday’s but being busy moms it is not easy.  I think between us we have over 15 kids so it is not easy.  But so worth it…….

jeri

 

Now when I say I crashed it, I mean it.  I had no gift in hand and showed up 45 minutes late.  The time with them was great and Jeri handed me a gift for no reason.  She said she felt I needed to have it when she saw it in a gift shop on vacation.  I thank her for this…..

Jeri2

 

When I read the back I nearly cried………..Sharing from the LovethisLife website:

Love_This_Life

 

and in that moment it made me reflect on how I have chosen to live.  Through the years my life has taken different paths, paths I had no idea existed.  I Created the Life I wanted to live with those I love in it.  My friends see that…….the good and not so good times.  The tough decisions, the ups and downs.  But it made me realize that I actively choose the positive and fight off the negative which is not easy.  So if this blog serves as one thing….it is my voice.  For those it reaches I am thankful.

Thank you Jeri and my friends for being that mirror to see that what you put out comes back tenfold to you.  When you put yourself out there, faults and all……it comes back.  My village is a testament.  This was more than a shirt. Even that girl running on the front is a reminder to get up and move in a positive direction even if just baby steps.

Kindness is always the best response to any situation.  When you grow older and you look back on your life, you will inevitable forget a lot of the stuff that seemed so important when you were young.  You probably won’t remember what your high school or college GPA was.  You will look at your old classmates on Facebook (or some other online social network) and wonder why you ever had a crush on that girl/guy.  And you will have the toughest time remembering why you let certain people from your past get the best of you.  But you will never forget the people who were genuinely kind – those who helped when you were hurt, and who loved you even when you felt unlovable.  Be that person to others as often as possible.  (And, as you know, what goes around comes around.)”