Moments

Everyone has a "moment" - one particular point in time when something alters your entire life and sets into motion a whirlwind of emotions and events that you may have not ever encountered if you had not experienced that "moment".  In fact, most probably have more than one "moment", I can think of several just off the top of my head - some I probably never thought I would credit as good.  

It's 2:30 AM on a Saturday night and I am awakened from a dead sleep - in that very moment - things came into focus clearer than ever before.  You see, that is the thing about "moments" - you can't possibly be prepared for them so how you react speaks volume about your character.  I aged ten years on one Saturday night, I learned a life lesson and I learned a lot about myself, who I was, how strong I was and what I am capable of.  That Saturday night was several years ago  - and so many things in my life can be traced back to that "moment".  My strength as a woman and mother and my ability to pick myself up, off the ground, dust off my hands and keep moving.    

Post "moment" I began to look at things differently - I began to look at myself closer asking the questions everyone will ask at some point in life - How did I get here?  Who am I? Why me? Can I do this?  At that point in my life - I wasn't where I needed to be or necessarily where I wanted to be, but I was there and it was comfortable.  When we as individuals are comfortable in situations, not necessarily happy, just comfortable we often do not want to disrupt ourselves.  My disruption was needed  and without my "moment" the disruption may have never surfaced.  I wasn't living anymore - I was just existing (isn't that what that lady said in "The Family that Prays" ).  You see, where I was pre "moment" was not at all in the plans. Which the plans never really pan out all the time - show me one person completely fullfilled the "In 10 Years" page in their senior book.  Things needed to change, I needed to change my path - so I did - again - credit to my "moment".   

There are so many "moments" that have taught me a great deal about myself and the ways of the world.  I guess, that is why we have them - so we are forced out of our "comfort" zones, pushed to our limits and learn to overcome any adversity in life.  Like it or not - all our memories make us who we are - all those "moments" even the ones we would like to forget help develop our character as individuals.  Recently I have come to realize that no matter what -  once our "moments" happen they are always going to be there - how we dealt with them at that time  and  how we choose to let them affect our lives in the present is what shapes our character and becomes part of how we are remembered  as individuals.