sEe the GO(o)D!

heY funfreeMe followers!

I know I've been writing a lot about grattitude in the past couple of days. It is an AmAziNg form of PoSitIve Energy!

HeY! Consider this . . . (BEWARE: this may be revolutionary and may challenge the very core of what you believe . . .): If everything happens  for a reason . . . then, we AlSo have to pay attention and be grateful when life isn't so great . . . (which isn't easy when we feel like stuff tOtaLLy sucks . . .) and try to be open to the lesson(s) these crappy situations may have to teach us.

For example, when I started my teaching career (a super long time ago), I was a long-term substitute for man named Willie Jett--a dearly-loved African American man who had the spirit of a warrior, and who eventually died of leukemia.

I began to substitute teach for Willie as he was undergoing chemotherapy, and after he eventually died, the students in his classes (who became the kids in my classes after I was hired), were really, really MAD at me ( . . . or so I thought) . . . 

Here's the deal: What the kids were really upset about, was that one of their fav teachers was gone, and they needed to grieve about it (but they didn't know how). . . so they took it out on me by being mad (when they were really sad :( and mad  . . .). and many of them were NoT very nice to me, sometimes . . . and it really was oKaY. . .

Sooooooo . . . my job that year wasn't really to teach Communications, but to usher my kids through their grief, sadness, and anger---which included allowing them to emotionally bArF on me on a daily (or regular) basis, and hold a   s   p   a   c   e   for them to be SaD :( and mAd, too  . . .

AnD here's the (kind of) GO(o)D NEWS: six months later, my own dad was diagnosed with cancer . . . terminal cancer. . . like, he was dying! It was horrible, cuz I was soOsoOsosoO close to my dad. . . UgH! It sucked. . .

But in a weird and beautiful way, I was prepared. I had practiced going through sadness and loss with my students, and saying GO(o)D-bye to my dad felt familiar . . .

SO, through this painful stuff, I have to (be)LI(e)VE that the Universe had a plan for me, and that somehow my experiences with helping my students through their grief was preparing me for my own. Hmmn . . . funny how that happens . . .

Coincidence? No way. . . there was a gift in the yucky stuff that was revealed to me later. . . (p.s. my dad died 6 months after he was diagnosed with cancer, 3 minutes into my mom and dad's 25th wedding anniversary. . . coincidence? don't think so . . . my amazing mother took it as a sign of enduring LoVe!?--so cool!) 

A lot of the time, we think that things happen to us. What if everything that happens (even the crappy stuff), happens for us? In other words, everything has a lesson and is preparing us for the next amazing thing? (but we just can't see it?)

That means we have to step back and be patient, and TRUST sometimes, cuz we don't always see the BIG picture, or GO(o)D'S plan for us.

What a relief!  It's all GO(o)D!

Love X three,

Dana