every. single. thing. is temporary.

i laughed until i cried today. tears of joy streamed uncontrollably down my cheeks and i felt joy deep in my sore belly. it was over before it started, but i remember feeling nothing but pure bliss. happiness. gratitude. 

when i tried returning to that happy happy moment, I understood deeper the gift i had been given by that moment with my best friend. 

every. single. thing. is temporary. 

joy. pain. giggles. tears. heartbreak. clarity. anger. sadness. fear. 

fiive minutes of pure joy and bliss became instantly became a memory. i am so grateful for my friendship, and yet i recognize that there will come a time when one of us is without the other. i recognize that in time, our lives will become memories too and our bodies will return to the ground as dust, our souls returning home. until that final breath, we are given a choice in how we show up in our interactions with one another. 

choosing gratitude doesn’t mean that every moment is happy. the decision to be grateful when everything is going wrong is not easy. and yet, the sun rises every single morning to remind us that darkness is not forever. 

gratitude sometimes shows up for me in a tiny, courageous pause. a decision to take a deep breath and to say thank you for the lessons and the light that i find in the rearview mirror.