“Looking back on the past, I have come to understand that life is not, as I was led to believe as a child, one straight-forward journey down one single path, but a collection of different journeys, very, very different journeys, much like the different Voyages of the Starship Enterprise – all involving the same core players, but all so different in experiences, interactions, and emotional outcomes that each has felt like a life unto itself. Nothing, absolutely nothing prepared me for the twists and turns, ups and downs, depths and heights that I have experienced on this incredible journey called LIFE.

Growing up in a close-knit family and living in the same town, going to the same vacation place every year, watching my father work for the same company instilled in me the overriding belief that sameness meant safety. Sameness would be the all-encompassing shield that would protect me and keep my family safe and secure always.

But sameness was clearly not meant to be. The demands, the challenges, the roles in my life kept changing, and the emotional tides kept changing as well. From the sheer joy and exuberance of young motherhood, through the juggling of career and parenting, to the despair of caring for and the devastation of losing my mother to Alzheimer’s disease, to the reality of my father-in-law being diagnosed with early dementia, all have been a part of this journey called life.

It has taken seemingly endless tears and heart-wrenching emotional searching to recognize one simple truth: Woven into the very fabric of each journey lies the inevitable DYNAMIC OF CHANGE. Indeed, the cycle of life, with births and deaths, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, flows on like an ever-changing river and fortunate is the traveler who understands this, gives up the struggle for sameness, and allows herself/himself the emotional and spiritual wellness to flow right along with it.”

Best of Luck on your journey....Anonymous