To my children,

To my children,

What will be, will be and what has been, was. I have been truly content, I lived 1000 lives in one, I have learned lessons for a life time in just half the time. I have stopped and smelled the roses, I have paused to reflect the beauty that exists within the stillness of the night and the momentum of the day. I learned how not to take for granted all those things around me that are so easy to get swept up into. I learned to forgive, and forget and how to love.

When you get older and place your time in the hands of another everyday for so long, you must cherish the little snippets you have left for yourself and your loved ones. We do what we have to do to bring food to the table, to put a roof over our heads and to raise our children but we still worry there is never enough time or money left for the things we feel are most important, yet when it comes down to it they are not the things that heal us and make us whole, it is instead our reactions, our choices, our actions and the small things -that define and complete us.

The day we stop for a moment in our busy schedule is the day we start to truly live. We stop to watch a butterfly pass over head, watch the children play or simply enjoy the fragrance from the freshly blooming hyacynths alongside that white picket fence we have always admired. What happens behind that picket fence we will never really know, but to me it always conjured up images of freshly baked muffins and warm timber floors, other things symbolic of my ideology.

One day the world will go on without me, and new lives in turn will begin, the circle of life, just as it’s supposed to be. As time passes, things will change, you will be amazed by these new ideas & experiences, at times you will be saddened too. It must be like this in order for us to fully appreciate what we have been given, and what we have created.

 You only ever see the world through your own eyes, you feel it only through your own fingertips and breathe it into your own lungs. Cherish this individuality and knowing you are the only one who gets to experience it, you will learn from it.

 Live the greatest life you can, try your best at all that you do and be proud of your efforts. Learn to seize the day and say yes, but also be aware of when you must say no. Help others when you can, and accept help when it is returned, follow through on the things you begin and always remember to stay true to yourself, when you do, you too will unlock the secret of happiness.