Moments of impact happen every day and we never know it. Sometimes, they change us forever in ways we never even imagined. Others change us so subtly that they are not even noticeable. We have all had both. Regardless, they all stay. For those moments that will always stay with me, I can tell you where I was, what time of the day it was, and what it felt like. However, only others come to the surface when you start to put things together and understand why something happened and you find your answer. Do you know what I am talking about? You know, when you seriously ask yourself, “Did that just happen?” as you try to tell yourself that you should not be shocked by it, but yet you still are. I usually turn my head and do a double-take. It makes you speechless. It stops you dead in your tracks as you try to wrap your head around it and process it. But you can’t. Reason will not play in this game. You still try to make it make sense. Events that occur to us and people who come into our lives without explanation are not meant for us to understand why. Yet, we question. We ponder as to the motive for such an experience and try to trace the steps that led us right to that very moment just before…and then, it happens. IMPACT!!! Close your eyes and go back to one of those times where something great or someone wonderful came into your life…Remember where you were…picture their face or draw the scene in your head again…is it there? Can you see it? Can you FEEL it? Past memories look like quick photographs that appear as I turn the pages on my life’s scrapbook. Some, I wish I could change. Others, I wish I could hold onto just a little bit longer. We are the products of the lives we have lived — the love given and received, the hurt felt and bestowed, and the joy and happiness shared. For certain moments, we may all find it difficult to describe an alternate route that we may have taken if that moment had never occurred. Do you wonder “what if?” from time to time? Sometimes, I do. I wonder how my life would be like if certain events had or had not happened or if certain people had or had not come into my life. I believe everything happens for a reason so even if we may not like the reason, we are better for it. This is not always easy to understand and accept. Nothing stays the same forever. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way. But those memories live on and we use them to embrace our journey, giving those moments their special places in our heart…where all impacts are felt with the greatest force ever. That force is love.
Michelle Homme 2013 ©
