sweat & tears

Today I found myself crying at the gym.  Not because I dropped a weight on my toe.  Not because I hurt my shoulder doing pull-ups.  Not because I over did it on the elliptical machine.  Nope.  It was because I was reading one of those cheesy magazines that you only read when someone else leaves one at your house (or in this case, the gym) or if you are traveling by air.  There I was - sweating, moving fast, working hard, tears streaming down my face.   So, you wondering what on earth I was reading?  It was this article titled "What's the Greatest Gift your Mother Ever Gave You?"  People wrote all sorts of things: her sense of humor, paying for therapy (funny but tragic), integrity, good nutrition, a sense of wonderment etc.  Then, this one woman wrote  "When I was two days old, I was abandoned on a sidewalk in Seoul, South Korea. My mother adopted me and raised me in a home full of love. What did she give me? My whole life."  I read it and it just made me cry.  It made me sad to think about how someone could just leave their baby on a corner.  It made me happy to think that it could be a gift.

So, this got me thinking about the greatest gift my mom has ever given me.  I thought for a while and realized that the answer was obvious.  When this gift arrived in my life, I wasn't very happy about it.  But, as time went on, it became one of the best things that ever happened to me.  My sister.  I can't imagine my life without her in it.  Then, I cried about that too.

 

me & lauren, 1978