I never thought that I would be so glad to be who I am.  I live a life that is often boring and normal, and... and... well, BORING.  It is just not that exciting, is it?  The excitement of our trip is past, and we've settled well into the sort of every day routines that many families have in the summer. We've enjoyed swimming lessons at the pool, marshmallow roasts in the backyard, picnics at the beach, visits to the city, and little bits of shopping and enormous (to us) movie theatres with 3D movies about a book that we love.  Just... normal and everyday and regular, undramatic kinds of uneventful things.

I find myself this summer on a little island of calm, normal, boring, uneventful living, and I am so utterly grateful for it, I can't fully express the depths of my gratitude.  My heart has been bouncing like a rubber ball, whipped around a barren and empty room, from lows to highs and lows again, as many of my cherished friends and family members have been living through anything BUT a normal, quiet, and uneventful life.  For you my friends and family who are going through - and have been through - the lowest of lows that start to sink down even more just when we dare question how much worse can it get?, I am, and will remain, here for you to talk and brainstorm with and vent to, to pray for and with you, and to just listen, just be with you in your time of need.

And I am ever grateful that our hearts bounce like rubber balls, and can feel the love and happiness and sunshine along with the pain and angst and misery.    The highs have become much sweeter after the bitterness of the lows.  And the boring, normal, uneventful of every day living is, indeed, a precious time to be cherished and nurtured in the wake of such bounces.