"Have You Ever Seen The Rain".....

"Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm.

I know.  It's been coming for some time."

Do these lyrics ever resound in my heart.

I'm a little put off by the rain, especially in December.  It's been almost a year, and I remember the rain coming down (lightly) the morning I was hit by a car.  I couldn't imagine the day when rehabilitation and pain would give me a break.  I prayed that the first 6 months would be over, and they finally are.  The year started off slow and grueling and has sped up according to tradition.  

 You know, the post-Halloween parade of holidays that seem to be about a week apart?  Christmas songs in every store around the 1st week of November, the anticipation of "Black Friday", which has grown into "Cyber Monday", and "Wednesday's Deals", the traditional sayings, which resound like clockwork:

• "Wow, can you believe Thanksgiving is here again?  Before you know it, it'll be New Year's Day"
• "What are you looking to buy on Black Friday"
• "I'm not even ready for Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas"
• Where did the last 3 months go?
  

It's such casual dialog with such hidden stress and expectation behind it.  I've learned to simplify my needs, celebrate what I have (not wallow over what I've lost), and have agreed to grow while consciously pushing fear to the side.  Because I'm human, I'll have days that SUCK and days that are great, but now the perspective has changed.  I do get crazy, everyone knows I'm a nut, but I try to imagine myself in 10 years reflecting on who I was today.  I want to be proud of the person who got up everyday and fought the good fight while maintaining temper and grace.

 And......

Here's a recap of my Thanksgiving.  Ollie and his girlfriend went to her families while me and mom had a nice quiet dinner at home provided by one of her customers.  A Gelson's dinner for 2, and no clean up = a happy mom.  

Political and historical opinions aside,  I'm simply thankful.  Everything that God, my mentors, and friends have given me, prepared me for the hardest time of my life.  You've made me a good person and in turn you were there to visit me in the ICU (while in the rotisserie bed), you took time out of your schedules and made your way to "The Valley" to bring books, stickers, cards, music, conversation, hugs, kisses, tissue for the tears, and a TON of prayers.  You even gave me an "O.K." to pass gas because I never knew when my body was going to act up.  LOL.  These things are priceless.  And as it happens, thanks to ALL of you, my needs have been met.  All of them.  I've cried less, worried less, and have smiled more. Thank you

Gosh, this all reminds me of a song we used to sing in church.  There was a bridge which said:

I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning!

This is where my strength arises from.

Have you ever seen the rain?