Pink Boxes

 "The path only unfolds behind us,

our steps themselves laying down the road.

You can look back and see the sign posts -

the ones you followed and the ones you missed -

but there are no markers for what lies ahead." Antonio Machado

The calendar turned to April this week.

We celebrated the 12th birthday of the Peanut. Another anniversary came and went. Spring break arrived.

The challenging piece is that the hard remained. The new normal after the grief. The navigating ever changing challenges with elderly family members. Family dynamics. Decisions to make.

This is sort of the ebb and flow of life though?

The good comes with the bad. Sometimes they are clearly defined. Other times we aren't sure what's good or bad until down the road.

Good and bad are fairly subjective terms.

We can't see clearly until we are past.

The hard thing about life is the path is made by walking.

One foot in front of the other.

Each day the "next right thing."

On Saturday morning, amongst the hardest day this week, this scrumptious pink box showed up on my doorstep.

Some sweet friends sent our family a treat.

At the end of a long, hard day, there were cookies.

Each time I pass this pink box on my kitchen counter, I am reminded that while we must make a lot of these decisions, while we must do a lot of these hard things - we are not alone.

We are held.

We are loved.

There are cookies.

And because there are cookies, we can walk the path another day.

Mama Warriors, I hope there are people in your life who show up in a pink box kind of way. Just a thoughtful nod to say "I see that this is hard and I'm thinking of you."

And I hope you show up for others in a pink box kind of way to say "I stand in this gap with you. This not sure how to keep walking but we are."

Pink boxes.