valleys and mountains

Life -- there are moments when nothing seems to make sense.  When the world we are living in feels foreign Unfamiliar.  It is scary, to say the least.  And the pain....Well the pain of loneliness can be unbearable. The valley is deep and we are standing in the middle of it, questioning every decision, every stroke of fate, every relationship, and most of all, questioning ourselves. 

But, then there are moments (like now for me) when we are standing at the top of the metaphoric mountain.  The clouds have parted and the sun is shining again.  We breath in and it hit us: it all makes sense!  We turn around and look at the person in the middle of the valley, replaying that time in our lives, and we feel a proud sense of satisfaction.  We crawled out.  We made it to the top again and we are wrapped in a blanket of clarity. We stand here in this moment, and we are surprised by the sting of tears that build up in our eyes.  Tears of joy. 

Yet, when we look ahead, our valley-voice whispers a sweet warning: "enjoy the mountain while you can."  It knows that as beautiful things are now, life is fluid and ever-changing (despite our immature attempts to force everything and everyone to stay the same).  Our children get older.  Our parents get older.  The days and nights cycle through.  It is inevitable - we will find ourselves in the valley again.  Some of us sooner, some of us later. 

But, remember, when we are in the valley we can turn around, look up at the hill behind us and smile knowing someday that mountain will be ours again.  We will gather up the strength and courage to crawl back out because we refuse to stay in the valley.