Where we want to be

Each of us looks around every day at people who are close to us, or at people who are just strangers in the crowd, and we see faces that we recognize as being pain-free.  Whether in a stadium or our living room, whether in a shopping mall or a religious sanctuary, we see people who are enjoying life in a way we vaguely remember, or of which we may have only ever dreamed.

When we see them, we do not want what they have.  We want to have our own version of life where pain has been pushed aside and we are able to look forward to the beginning of each and every day instead of looking forward to its end.  We seek our own life where we can do all the things that we want to do instead of barely, if at all, being able to the things we need to do.

One Step At A Time 

We are tired of having our pain control us and define us.  Each of us is a unique and special human being with talents and skills, with love and interests, who deserves the opportunity to pursue our dreams and live a life that is the best of what we can make of it.  We are not seeking a perfect life because we know that doesn’t exist. 

We simply seek a life in which the only limitations we face are our own willingness to try and our willpower to persevere.  Our pain will no longer be able to define us.  Only we will be able to define ourselves.

We will recognize the ultimate triumph of our hope on the day when we are able to look at the happiness of others around us and no longer feel as though we are seeing people who are apart from us.  We will see them and the world as something that we are a part of, and we will live that day and all future days with purpose, joy, and gratitude.

We leave stronger than when we arrived, and we will return with hope in our hearts.
 Remember that hope is the greatest enemy of pain.