I have a favorite expression that I “coined” a many years back.  It is:  I have never seen the next step of my Life coming, until I figuratively, and sometimes literally, trip over it!  It continues to be so.  In the aftermath of what I considered, each time, to be a major fall from my own Life’s Path…  I have actually come to realize that what followed would not have followed… if I hadn’t had that particular test/challenge, disappointment, or major event in my life.

     It’s really hard for me to argue with the well-used phrase:  Everything that happens… happens for a reason.  I have seen it, lived it, and written about it too many times to deny its accuracy.  What is also clearer each day is that our paths here on Earth, (although ones of “choice”), have a “Force” so much greater than each of us.  I call mine God. 

     Life, here on Earth, is such a gift.  The humbling, learning, and growing continues to amaze me each and every day. Yesterday, I went over to the beach to do my daily walk. As I was walking, I suddenly felt overcome with emotion and concern. Was I doing enough to “make the world a better place for others?” I silently, (and worriedly), asked for a sign from above. As I looked up, a loud laugh came out of my mouth and I humbly gave a thumbs up to the heavens. Unmistakably, there was a large hollow in the middle of the clouds in the shape of a heart; it was unmistakeable. It was huge.

Continuing my walk on the. beach, I next encountered a robust little girl of color; she was about four, I guessed. As I bent down to ask her name, which she told me was “Lily,” (perhaps, it’s spelled differently), her large upper lip stuck out at an angle. Maybe she had previously had stitches and they were badly done or maybe she never had any and they had been needed. Lily also had a number of scars on her face which were hard to ignore. Next thing I knew, she took my hand and started walking with me. She was not at all concerned with the calls of a woman sitting a distance back on the sand. Lily had found a friend. Eventually, a young man came down to the water’s edge and told her “she was in trouble.” Lily sadly waived good-bye. I told her I would see her again.

These two events were difficult not to think about as I continued on my way. It seemed appropriate that I stop for a moment, face the Atlantic Ocean, and say a prayer. It was then that two dolphins surfaced extraordinarily close to the edge. They waived to me with their tails. Yes, yes… there was most likely a school of fish. However, I chose to view it as the third of my “signs” that day. It was just too amazingly coincidental.

LIFE is such an amazing gift. It is not easy; it is too often difficult. However, there has always been, and will continue to be a reason for each us. Even with a few “trips” we continue on its journey.