katy and i are preparing to move out of our apartment soon, so we've spent whatever free time we've had lately cleaning our old drawers and closets, packing bags upon bags of old or out-grown clothes for goodwill, boxing up books, canned goods, picture frames and photos, etc...you know, typical moving stuff.well, it seems that every time i move, i find things that remind me of times long forgotten...old photos, cards, souviners and things i've written. i always enjoy thinking back on my life at those times. looking at each of those items, my mind can go back to the exact moment, day and emotion of the event. some were good, some were painful, but all were real, and all made me who i am now. perhaps it's just me thinking that each event was more significant that it was, but i imagine that if it wasn't for each and every one of those seemingly random events, i probably wouldn't be typing this right now.
often times we seem grateful for all the wonderful things that have happened to us in our lives, all the things that God has graced us with. we dig through an old drawer, read a dusty journal, find a box under the bed or discover that lost treasure in the back of the closet, and we can instantly go back to a time...whether it be 20 years ago or 20 days ago. our minds recreate the event, often times recalling in great detail what we were wearing or what the air smelled like that day. it's amazing what our brains can remember about something significant in our past, how enjoyable the time was, how much the person loved you or how impactful the event may have been...and for those times, we're grateful.
then there's those items, those triggers, that recall all the painful things in our past. the photos of loved ones who are no logner with us, the vacation destinations we miss and wish to return to, the letters from people who broke our hearts or the journal entries we wrote with those same torn hearts. it's amazing how our minds can recreate those times also. we can still feel the loss, the pain, the heartache, as if it's real all over again.
but how often are we grateful for those times? how often do we think back and say "wow, i'm really glad that happened!" i imagine now often enough. but why not? i think it's those things that make us who we are also. those events can never happen again. they were unique, one of a kind, never to occur again. perhaps in the history of mankind, those moments will equate to nothing...but i imagine that in the history of each of us, every one of those events and occurances will speak volumes.
sure, you can live by the old cliche, "if it wasn't for the bad, how would we know the good"...but in the whole scheme of things, that really means nothing. i think that line was just muttered to some guy having a bad day. why does no one say, "if it wasn't for the good, how would we know the bad"? i mean, in reality, it means exactly the same thing. and neither one adds up to much of anything in my mind.
the good and the bad are real entities, real events and circumstances, not just a few words uttered under some guys breath. they really exist, and they make each of us unique and each of our story's amazing. i really am grateful for ALL the times i've had in my life, all the old photos i've kept and poems i've written. i know the good and the bad have made me who i am today, and i know it's because of all those events that i am writing this today...
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