There are 4 or 5 events that have a lot of significance to me. The birth of each of my 2 kids. My marriage. My divorce. The day I graduated nursing school in the middle of a pandemic.

Those are the big ones.

More than anything, those events show me how much I have to be grateful for in life.

I’m in the second half of life… and without getting too deep first thing in the morning, I can’t help but appreciate what my parents and grandparents have gone through for me to be where I am today.

I see my kids, growing up… watching your children grow up and become adults gives me a lot of perspective.

Work is probably the most perspective-inducing thing in my life though. Watching people go through their cancer journeys, being there as witness and helper, and (sometimes) becoming like family to them, sometimes having to say goodbye, or not getting to… that’s given me so much.