05/26/2009

Paid For With An Open Heart

I believe there comes a time
When everything just falls in line
We live and learn from from our mistakes
The deepest cuts are healed by faith.

–Tolhurst/Grombacher/Giraldol

The soldier crouched down into the camera, his face filled the screen and he seemed to look me dead in the eye, “While you’re enjoying your BBQ’s, your friends, and your freedoms, remember that it’s all paid for with blood.”

He then stood to his full height, the camouflage he wore filled the frame and the camera stayed in position and continued to film him as he walked away and into the desert.

His words chilled the already gray morning of Memorial Day and reminded me of the people that have transitioned within the last year, and because of the court case I recently lost, my relationships.

The gavel that came down signaling the final ruling also signaled the end of my relationship to this person I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

There is a part of me that knows that not everyone in our lives is here for the whole journey. Some folk are here just to walk a little ways. I thought this person was different, but life had another lesson to teach. I love this quote by Richard Bach, “Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.”

So I’ve chosen to remember the good times, the laughter and the sharing and I’m reminded of that soldier who looked me in the eye and I remember that it was all paid for with an open heart.

- Aunt B