How our life changes in the blink of an eye.  We live as if we are invincible and in one split second, life changes for us and we have to face our own mortality and the life we have lead thus far.  Have I done the things I wanted to?  Have I touched the lives of others as I intended?  What are the things that matter most?

The answer to the last one is easy…the simple things.  To love. To feel the warm summer breeze on your skin.  The smell of freshly mowed lawn.  A bird’s song.  To see all the beauty that surrounds us daily, but which we often take for granted.  The people in our lives.  Our pets.

After getting some rather personal and distressing news Friday afternoon, I pondered all this and more.  I sat in my lounge room and looked around at all the things I have gathered to reflect “me” in my surroundings.  In that moment, I realised, they are “just things”, they don’t really reflect me at all.  I am so much more that that.  The only thing in my home that meant anything, in that moment, was my best friend, my dog.  She has been with me over the past eleven years to be there through all the good and bad times.  Her love for me is unconditional.  The only kind of love worth having.  She will continue to be there with me for what I hope is a long time to come.

I finally “got the hug” that I have needed.  It meant so much.  Some people come into our lives and just are so much more than we could ever have realised they would be.  My life has been greatly enriched by this person and I don’t think he knows by how much.  I can try and tell him, but words often fail me.  I can only show him by my offer of unconditional love.

I have some wonderful friends online whom have been very supportive also.  I don’t know what I would do without you all.  Thank you.

So, hug and appreciate those you love, and remember, the best things in life are truly the simple things.

Coastal Girl.