Life in the Cheap Seats

Over the last couple weeks I have been rearranging our home. Moving this and that, upstairs no downstairs… believe me it has been an adventure. You may be asking yourself what sparked all this? Well I guess it was the 5th anniversary of our home.


I could not believe it myself but it has truly been 5 years since we bought and moved into our home. After nine years of marriage Johnny and I had finally been able to buy a home of our own. We were so excited because it had taken us a long time to be able to come to the table and sign those scary yet wonderful papers. We moved in on June 30, 2005, my thirty-second birthday. Little did we know this year would bring so many changes to our lives? We celebrated with a great family vacation that year, had friends over every weekend and enjoyed the prospect of good things to come. In the six months to follow the changes we wonderful…a new home, a new school for the kids and In December just six months after we moved in to our home I found a lump in my left breast.


Life came to a sudden halt as we celebrated our first Christmas in our new home. All those hopes we had for redecorating, painting, new furniture  even organizing well they faded away. Honestly those things were just that, things. None of those things were as important as fighting my cancer, as living in the face of the beat or making memories with my family. So they were all added to the back burner, ideas for another time and another place which is where they have stayed, that is until now.


So finally after five years we are organizing. It is a start anyway. Yes we are still recovering from Johnny’s job loss last year. In fact it has been exactly a year since we began this particular struggle, but like any other struggle in our lives we have faced it head on and by the grace of God we are still standing. Our home has never been hi- tech and no we don’t have a flat screen TV anywhere in our home but you know what we do have? I will tell you…We have each other, a family strong and sure with a foundation to support us through the life quakes and landslides. We have memories, so many wonderful memories etched into our hearts. These are the things which matter the most.


Sometimes we have to live through the storm, except the cheap seats to realize just how wonderful our lives really are. Yes there are times we have to rearrange our homes and our lives, but in the scheme of things all these changes bring us closer to those we love. When I look back at where we have been and from where we have come I am amazed by the grace we have been given in the face of so much. Do we still struggle, worry where the money will come from to pay this or do that with…you bet ya! But the truth is I have learned life is what you make it and if you see it full of sorrow and misgivings then it will bring those things to you. Yet if you see those things and choose to rise above them life will surprise you with hope. So I try (though I have my off days) to embrace the wonders life offers me, the joys, the happiness, the tears, the pain and the mistakes I make from day to day because when those things come my way with each new, precious day I am given I am able to experience each one and that in and of itself is a miracle.


So celebrate today my friends, rejoice in the miracle of life you have today, never fear the rearrangements life has in store for you and enjoy life from the cheap seats. You might just like the view from up here!

Christina