Riches and Character

No matter how overwhelming life has seemed, there has always been another chapter. There is a reason why we do not read the same type of stories we read in the third grade. Things change and those changes affect us an deepen us.
When I was young, my grandfather's sister was really interesting to me. She had been a truck driver with her husband. She had many interesting stories and her husband had a ring with several rubies. He told me each ruby represented a large number of miles with no accident. She followed by telling me the importance of safety in all that we do.
This seemed contra indicative of all that I saw of her. She always seemed so carefree and full of life. She talked loudly, made decisions instantly, travelled freely and always had an enormous smile. She laughed a lot and told crazy stories about her life on the road.
Since she was so boistrous and everyone else in my mom's family was so gentle and reserved, I asked my mom one day why she was so different. My mom gave me one sentence that has stuck with me..."Difficult times in life build character."
Later I had a friend tell me that my writing and artistic abilities were feeling "blocked" or stagnant because I was too happy. That seemed like a ridiculous statement, but now, looking back, some of the most inspiring moments were preceeded by extreme pain.
I'm not saying by any means that inspiration, character and beauty are absent without pain, as there are many creations that come simply from joy. I do believe that our experience of joy is inversely proportional to our experience with pain. There is a richness in our appreciation of joy, peace, love and beauty that comes from the loss of the same.
Each time we feel loss, real loss, whether it is of health, family, freedom, or anything of any importance, when that loss has past, it leaves a new deeper appreciation. There is a time and a place for everything. The lack of understanding creates deeper emotion.
My daughter was recently disturbed as I cried while watching two sisters with Cystic Fibrosis sing. I told her it wasn't really a good cry or a bad cry. It was a cry of appreciation. Appreciation for the ability to breathe, for the mother who does everything to help them with every breathe they take, for them knowing they could do it even when doctors said it wouldn't be possible. It was overwhelming to me to know the suffering in their lives each day and to hear such a beautiful song come from it. I told my daughter that someday there would indeed be moments like that for her. Moments where life itself seems insurmountable, and moments where the awesome appreciation moved her to tears.
Even though my daughter does not believe me, and I do so much to protect her from the extreme pains of life, I know, that she will experience her own losses, fears, and will have to climb her own mountains of dispair to aquire more than just a passing appreciation. I know that these trials will indeed make her a better person.....but I am her mother and I'm not quite ready to throw her off the mountain just to get more character. I think it will be my job to simply remind her to believe that the clouds will continue to move and that she will grow and become stronger for each loss.
Life is not meant to be static. We are growing, evolving and building character with each choice and step we make. I believe that the story of my life will continue to get richer with joy, because I don't live on Easy Street!