The Luckiest

Sometimes I feel like everything is going wrong and why is this happening to me!

Then I realize...

I feel loved every day.  I still believe anything is possible.  I'm challenged daily.  

I'm not doing so bad. 

I knew from a very early age that God had a special plan for me.  I had a deep desire to HELP.  I had a special passion for people that had it harder than I thought I did.  Specifically, people with disabilities.  I spent a lot of my free time in the special education classroom helping teachers and connecting with the kids that were always in a different room.  I didn't understand it.  But I knew I made a difference there.  

Every year my family drove to Florida for a two week vacation.  I'm not sure if I've ever told my parents about this but one year, I was probably nine or ten, my brother and I had fallen asleep when we were fairly close to home after two fabulous weeks on the beach and sixteen hours in the van.  I woke up when we were just ten or fifteen minutes from our house.  I almost drifted back to sleep when I realized, HEY... my parents are talking about me!  It very easily could have been a conversation about how I'm always fighting with my brother or how I don't do THAT great in school.  But no... they were talking about how much they love me! They were asking each other, how did we get a daughter with such a kind and giving spirit?  They were wondering how my passion to help and care of others came to be.  Hearing this conversation, without them knowing I was listening, was probably one of the most affirming moments of my life.  In this random moment, I felt like my parents SAW me.  They got me.  They appreciated me.  

I know God had me hear that conversation for a reason. I stuck through school to get the education I needed so that I could not only help people, but get paid to do it.  

My parents made sure that I always felt special.  I will spend the rest of my life trying to do the same for Brianna.  It might seem at times that I'm bragging about my beautiful baby.  And I might be... because I'm already hoping she will overhear my conversation :)