Andy Rooney says, “For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” I might love flowers, wine and a good nap, but I am never quite prepared for the unexpected.  When life is rolling merrily along, when the days are passing with ease, that is when some life changing event takes place, and you know things will never be the same again.  I remember inviting my daughter and her husband to a boring Monday night dinner, we were planning on watching the game, and grilling burgers.  We’ve done this a million times but tonight there is a subtle difference in atmosphere. That is when my daughter announces she is expecting and casually informs me that I’m going to be a grandma! 
The world tilts and you know it will be spinning on a new axis for the rest of your life.  This is the good stuff, a situation that alters your life for the better, something too good to be true.  I love what Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes, “If you let yourself be absorbed completely, if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.” These moments include engagements, weddings, baptisms, graduations, reunions, a new job, a new house, or an unexpected promotion.  But there are also the darker moments that alter our lives.  We have stumbled through bereavement, job changes, illness, realignment of friendships, and betrayals that we never expected. These situations also change us forever.  But now I’m beginning to think these moments are really one and the same.  You can scan the horizon for the positives or remain stagnant in your grief. To remain in a bereaved state is to die. William Gaines says it so beautifully, “Most of my major disappointments have turned out to be blessings in disguise. So whenever anything bad does happen to me, I kind of sit back and feel, well, if I give this enough time, it’ll turn out that this was good, so I shouldn’t worry about it too much.” God bless and good night.