The Meaning of Life

I laughed last week. Laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.  I am just about as removed from politics as you can get. My last three posts have surprised even me. I am not, however, removed from a good laugh. And, if nothing else, Melania Trump has provided a great laugh. (I am sure her husband had a large hand in said laughter.)

I needed that laugh. I needed comedic relief.  Sometimes we become so bogged down in the heaviness of life that we forget, it is not that serious. Or maybe it is.  Serious and not that serious all at the same time.

I needed to be present in my own reality – a reality that I love and cherish deeply, an ordinarily extraordinary reality.

I have spent the last few days contemplating how I would like to finish off this quote challenge. I decided to finish right in the center of my own reality.

My husband pointed out some time over the past couple weeks that I have no friends in New Orleans. He said I used to go out to eat, and go for coffee, and go shopping. Since a few of my friends have moved recently, I have done none of those things, and he was quite concerned.

I had not noticed.

Children have introduced me to a life where I have learned to enjoy my own company – occasional long bouts of silence.  I have grown fond of those golden nuggets called shopping with just me. As much as I enjoy time with my kiddos, I also  appreciate the time when they are not asking me to stop what I am doing so they can go “pee-pee potty,” or get them something to eat or to drink, or put on a certain tv show, or read a book, or play a game. I love doing all of those things. But sometimes I just need a second to breathe, to be an adult, to be someone other than mom, to enjoy my own company.

Thankfully, I have learned to be comfortable in my own skin.

I am not all together sure of when that happened. Perhaps it happened over the past three months…or three years…or three decades.

I LOVE my friends, and contrary to my husbands assertion, I do have a little less than a handful in New Orleans (or maybe a lot less depending on what ones considers friendship), but I am constantly surrounded by love. And love is more than enough.

So I will end my quote challenge with Les Miserable.  Thank you thehappylife101 for inviting me to share, although my contributions to the challenge have been much different than the actual challenge requirements.

1. “To love another person is to see the face of God.” – Les Miserable

Part of the reason I has not noticed that my friends in my immediate surroundings had dwindled is that I am blessed to live a life overflowing with love.  To think that God is love so it follows that love, true love, not that in and out, up and down roller coasters of relationships, but the “there is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you” kind of love…is God.

The way I look at my husband, and my son, and my daughter; the “I just wanted to give you a hug” look and statement my son gives me when he knows I am angry and he is trying to dampen the wrath (and it works); the aggravating high-pitched bark from a dog who wants to lay right next you but cannot jump onto the sofa; the long phone conversations with sisters, mom, and dad about everything and nothing at all; the search for ice cream in the middle of the French quarter with a friend so we can take a selfie for national ice cream day; the forced game of wiffle ball on a beach.

Unending giggles at memes and #famousmelaniatrump quotes.

Tears of laughter remembering the look of horror on my sister’s face as the person in front of her fell on the graduation march into the building.

These are the many faces of God.

This is love.

This is the meaning of life.

 

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The challenge is to give three quotes over three days and challenge three others to do the same.  You should mention the person who invited you to the challenge each day.  I, of course, did some watered down, warped version of the challenge, but I do have three blogs to end that add to my quality of life.

1. Beauty Beyond Bones
2. Working Look (for a minimalist approach to fashion)
3. Pics and Posts

Do you have insights to improve the quality of life? Connect with me: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bloglovin.