We're Alright

I was talking to a friend from my childhood the other day. She was on vacation in my state and wanted to come visit me. We chatted non-stop while our kids played. It was good catching up. We both grew up with simalar beliefs and lifestyles and both have come out of that. We talked about old times and crazy parents and legalistic beliefs and who we were then and who we are now. We could've talked for another 8 hours.

As she was leaving, she hugged me and said "It's good for me to see people from way-back-when, to see where they are now. We're alright, you know? After everything is said and done, we're all OK. We have good lives, people we love and who love us. We have our demons and struggles like everyone else, but in the end....we're all alright."

I thought for a while about what she said and I realized she was right. If I step back and look at the big picture, I see many people, broken, all in different stages of healing, all living our lives as best we can, all searching and growing and loving and crying and laughing. We are just like everyone else in the world, regardless of where we came from. And we are alright.

Sometimes I get caught up in seeing through a narrow lense; seeing only one small part of an issue in my life or someone else's. I get so intent on such little things that need fixing that they become huge and cloud everything else. Sometimes I need to step back and realize that I'm looking at such a small part of who I am and where I'm at. I need a bigger perspective. My friend gave me one that day.

We're alright. Not perfect, not "arrived", maybe not where we'd like to be, maybe some more broken than others. But we're on a journey, each of us with a goal and dream in mind. And we'll get there. And as long as we never stop moving forward, never stop dreaming, never give up, we'll be alright.