The smell of fabric softener

Ever have this experience:

You're out for a walk, you're enjoying the evening air, listening to the birds chirping their last calls of the day, watching the children out playing happily in the street, feeling so good in the present moment.  Then, out of nowhere, a smell comes and hijacks you and takes you back to another place in time.  All of a sudden you're not on your walk but in some special place in your past.  You feel different, everything even looks different.  You're bombarded with happy memories, see people you love, it all becomes so clear you feel like you're actually there.  That one smell had the power to take you back in time.

This happens to me a lot, usually when I'm taking a walk in my neighbourhood after dinner.  And the smell that really holds this power for me is the smell of fabric softener.  What's funny is that it's not one particular brand like Downy or Snuggle, it's any fabric softener.  Now, growing up I don't remember my family using fabric softener; maybe we did, maybe we didn't, but it doesn't stick in my mind either way.  No, fabric softener was used in another house I grew up in, another place I felt loved and comforted every time I entered.  The smell of fabric softener, for me, will always be linked to this house and bring back so many happy memories of times spent in the company of the people who lived in it. 

To this day, the house still smells of fabric softener, and going there still makes me happy ♥♥

She

She inspires me.

She impresses me.

She makes me laugh, every time we speak.

She is a happy, upbeat, positive person.

She is cute; everyone who meets her says so.

She is kind, caring, and sensitive.

She is always there for me, no matter what.

She is my biggest fan.

She has made me who I am today.

She is my MOM and I love her more with every passing day.

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Giving thanks

This weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada.  It seems to me that each year the idea of giving thanks becomes more and more important to me.  I give thanks for all the blessings in my life on a daily basis, but somehow that doesn't seem like quite enough.  It always seems to fall far short of what I need to give thanks for.  I am incredibly blessed, incredibly fortunate, and I don't know how to put into words how grateful I am for everything that life keeps sending my way.

Do I always feel this way?  No, some days I can't find anything to be thankful for; but that doesn't mean that I don't have a ton of things to be grateful for, even on my worst days.  On good days, however, I am astounded by just how much I have to be grateful for.  

So this weekend will be about holding close all my blessings and trying to find a way to give thanks, a way that will live up to all the wonderful people, situations, and experiences life has put in my path. 

Hiding out from life

Ever get the feeling you'd like to just hide out for a while and hope life doesn't find you?

That's what I've been trying to do for the last little bit.  But it hasn't worked.

There's always someone or something trying to pull me from my hiding place.

When I want to just pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep, someone coaxes me out.

When I want to just sit here and feel sorry for myself, someone smiles at me and inevitably makes me feel better.

When I'm feeling invisible, the little girl next door shouts hello as I drive by.

I guess it's just not possible to hide out from life, because life always has a way of finding you.

And, ultimately, that's a really good thing.

What doesn't kill you, just makes you stronger

How many times have I heard that one? 

Is it true?  Is it really, really true?  I'd like to know. 

And to make you stronger, does it have to feel like it's going to kill you first? 

And how much stronger does it really make you? 

Because there are times when it really feels like I won't survive,
but how soon after should I start to feel stronger??? 

I really need to know.

Remembering the unthinkable

It's been ten years since the unthinkable happened.  I've not wanted to review it, remember it, even think about it... until today.  Today it was necessary.  Today was a day for prayers, for tears, and for closure.  For many people.

Do you remember where you were ten years ago today?  I do. 

I remember thinking, when I heard people ask that about the day John F. Kennedy was killed, what's that like?  Now I know.  I could never understand why it would be important to remember where you were during an event like that.  Now I do.  An event like that changes you.  It steals away part of your innocence.  And not in an immediately noticeable way, either.  Ten years later, however, it is very noticeable.  

They say that 20,000 people were saved on that day... we forget that when all we hear about are the 3,000 that perished.  I'm not saying we should forget those that died; I'm saying it is important to remember the good that was done on that day, not just the bad.

And so on this the tenth anniversary of the day the unthinkable happened, I say we try and look at the ways in which our world has changed for the better; because in many ways, it has.

Words

Words hold such power.

They have the power to heal, they have the power to give hope, they have the power to comfort, they have the power to thrill.

Yet, they also have the power to hurt deeply.  Whether it is intentional or not, sometimes words can really hurt.  Sometimes they cut so deeply that they leave me speechless...