Pearls for your necklace

The other night, my Mom came over to my monthly Stamp With Me night, and as often happens when you get a group of friends together, we were talking about grievances we had with some things that were going on in our lives, and balancing them against things related to that same situation that made us happy. You know how it is. You may complain about things your husband does, but you also know why you married him in the first place; or your company isn't treating you the way you'd like right now, buy you can still feel good about the review you got last year, or an accomplishment you had there. My Mom had some very good thoughts to pass along.

The first was a story about how when she was younger, someone told her that in her life, she would have one perfect day. She went on to tell us that there was one day during the Christmas season when I was about 2 that she did some Christmas decorating, put up the tree, we went to visit Santa, the house was clean and everything was peaceful, and when she went to bed, she thought "This was it. This was my perfect day!" and was happy. On the flip side, she later thought "That was it. That was the perfect day. Now I've had mine, and it's over" She said it wasn't until later, when she was talking to someone else that they told her "What? You don't just get one. You can have lots and lots of perfect days." Perfect days are entirely how you look at them, and you can have as many as you want.

We also talked about how there are some things in your life that made you feel wonderful, and nothing should ever change that. Those things are pearls in your necklace. Those pearls are your friendships, accomplishments, and events that have happened in your life that made you happy. And on those days that feel about as far from your perfect day as you can get, you can always take out that necklace and count your pearls.

Right now there are some changes that are effecting me and lots of people that I know. Company structures are changing, people are worried about their jobs, their health, their finances, their way of life, and their future. I'm sure we'll all get through it in one way or another, and hopefully in a few years we'll be able to look back and think that it was tough, but that we were able to get make it past the challenges we faced and be better off for having had some of them. And hopefully, while we're going through that tough time, we'll have lots of pearls on our necklaces that will help us remember that we are women that have had great love, great accomplishments, and great friends. For lots of people who read my blog, one or more of your pearls is your creativity and the feelings or inspiration that your creations bring to others when you share them, and I hope you know that.