Birthday Words To Live By

At 10:10 am, 40 years ago on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, I made my debut into this world.

Growing up, I don't remember ever dreaming about where I'd be or what I would've seen by this age. Whatever I dreamed, I'm sure it didn't involve sitting on the couch in a modest townhome on the outskirts of Washington, DC watching "The Curious Life of Benjamin Button." But as luck would have it, that's exactly what I was doing on my 40th birthday.

Anyone who knows me knows I love a great quote and I'm always on the look out for "words to live by". My journal is filled with sayings by Rumi, Christ, Plato, Thich Nhat Hanh, philosophers, thinkers, sages & satirists.

I was semi daydreaming, when Mr. Daws (a character in the movie who'd been struck by lightning 7 times) said this:  "Blinded in one eye; can't hardly hear. I get twitches and shakes out of nowhere; always losing my line of thought. But you know what? God keeps reminding me I'm lucky to be alive."

At that moment, the curtain sheers billowed in, lifted like angels wings, suspended long enough for me to look back and forth twice & smile at the coincidence as I repeated the words softly to myself:

God keeps reminding me I'm lucky to be alive.

I felt the words sink in. A smile curled my mouth.

Amen. If I forget all else, may I never forget this: how lucky I am just to be alive.