renest life / everything happens for a reason

if there’s any mantra i have for my life, it’s the one you see as the title of this post.

everything happens for a reason.

i adopted this a long time ago, not surprisingly out of a need to try and explain and rationalize why things in my life were happening. not that it was anything terrible or earth shattering, but when you’re hurting or struggling or exuberantly happy or when someone comes into your life by chance, it helps me to go back to these words to remember that there’s a higher power at play. 

i had one of these moments about a month ago. and, i promise you, there’s not a day that’s gone by since that i haven’t thought about the glorious angel that walked into my life by chance. 

for privacy’s sake, no names will be revealed. but i think it’s important to share this story because it was a classic time in my life as a mama: i was busy, i had a million and one things to do, i’m sure one of my children was coming down with something, i had five loads of laundry that needed folding, bills had to be paid. i know there’s many of us that go through every day of our lives with our minds going a thousand miles an hour, so as to not forget anything. don’t let anything slip through the cracks. it’s so easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day that when someone crosses your path and helps you re-evaluate your bogged down days, it’s a gift.

it all started with my etsy shop. it was an ordinary day. i had a notification on my phone that someone had sent me a conversation via etsy. i opened it up, and it was a note about my “you are my sunshine” canvas wall art. this woman was asking if i still was making it, and if i could customize it. i replied in my usual manner….to tell you the truth, i get a lot of questions from prospective buyers, but i’m sure their lives are usually like mine: sitting down to order something on etsy doesn’t necessarily float to the top of the list most days!

this lovely woman messaged me back within a day. and this is when my eyes opened, and in a way, my world stopped.

she’s a mama. a mama who’s son has just gotten engaged to a beautiful fiance. and she’s a mama who is fighting terminal cancer. a mama who knew she wasn’t going to live to see her son get married, much less see the birth of her first grandchild. she was reaching out to me to help make a special wish for her to come true. 

she was gathering special baby items for her future grandchild’s room, that she was putting together and leaving as a legacy gift for her son, future daughter-in-law and future grandchild.

to say that this hit me at my core is an understatement. 

i cried. my heart hurt and was bursting simultaneously. 

i happily jumped on the bandwagon to help this mama out. but it doesn’t end there.

we started a conversation. i learned she lives in the same city that my mimi lived in after we moved her from iowa to be closer to family. where i had the chance to visit my mimi and have some of my last memories of her when she was still my mimi, before dimentia and alzheimer’s really captured her. 

everything happens for a reason, i believe.

in my almost three years of owning my etsy store, and having the honor of being a part of so many new babies’ nurseries, this project touched me to my core.

i pray everyday for this sweet mama. for strength. for her, for her family, and for the blessings to approach her fight with courage. i’ve met a lot of strong women in my life, but this one is up there on the list. 

what did this sweet angel remind me of? to slow it down. to realize that our time is a gift. that every moment with our families is a moment never to be returned. that maybe, just maybe, i don’t need to have control over it all.

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