Paul and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of my family and many friends. I feel so blessed to have Melanie and Rob Graham as friends that opened their home to us for the week and for family that went out of their way to share time and meals with us as well.
Now, onto the Lucky Bug topic.
Since moving to New Brunswick 5 years ago I have been afforded much leisure time for pondering my seemingly blessed life. Of course there have been times when I wondered how I would survive when times were tough but we all have those moments. However, when looking at the big picture, a span of over 50 years, those points in time can sometimes feel insignificant when in actuality they were forks in the road. Every fork a new beginning, a chance to move forward down a new path, a time for learning and for allowing myself to be open to new ideas. I sometimes wonder how the negative things that have happened didn't devastate me as I've seen it done to some people. Things like the end of long term relationships, loss of jobs, problems with my children, health issues, the deaths of family and friends, being the target of bullies and rumours, financial ruin....so many reasons to just fall apart, give up or at the very least to give in to the negativity and become a pessimist.
Until recently I didn't have an answer to that question. It was the night I was rearranging furniture in the house and in order to move the hope chest downstairs I had to empty it first. Brooke and I had fun going through all the things I have saved over the years like my grade 8 report card and all kinds of school work and projects each of my children had proudly presented me with when they were young, even the braces off my teeth from when I was a teenager!! Then I saw it and I knew...the small brown plastic ring box and the treasure inside. I flashed back to the day I bought it when I was 14 years old at the fall fair at Hagersville Secondary School. Fourteen is a difficult age and a point when I was enduring the cruelty of bullies, hating school and just figuring out my parents knew nothing and only wanted to torture me. (of course the parent part wasn't true but it seemed that way in my mind at that time). Then I saw this lady selling Lucky Bugs, simple hand painted stones of which I picked a golden one. Now I don't remember why I bought it, what I hoped this little stone would do for me but whatever the reason, I made the purchase and have held onto it to this day.
Do I believe that every good thing that has happened in my life is because of this lucky bug? Of course not. That stone had a one in a billion chance of being picked up and painted and the odds were just as great that I would purchase it and save it for thirty eight years. What I realized is that I AM THE LUCKY BUG!!! Lucky in so many ways that it's hard to fathom. Lucky that I have parents that believe in me even when I make the wrong choices, lucky to have friends and family that lift me up and carry me through the difficult times, lucky to have children that are both loving and forgiving, lucky that somehow I have received so much positive influence in my life that it flows over into every aspect of my being, lucky that I have been provided the opportunity to give others what I have received. Lucky that I have realized that on every path I have taken there have been some jagged stones but when I turn those stones over there has always been a smooth side to it.
So I guess the lesson my Lucky Bug has taught me is that it's not the stone you save that can change your life but it just might be all the ones that you didn't leave unturned.
Luck and Love to all that read this :)
