Opportunities

As I lie in this bed in an apartment in Krakow, Poland, I can't help but think of how lucky I am to be here. I think the rain makes me reflective. The soft patter of a gentle rain on this top floor apartment has me thinking about a lot. Of course - being so close to Auschwitz - I think of how lucky I am to have been born in a time and place where I am free. I have never had to fight for my freedoms or my life, and I think that's easy to overlook. It's easy to forget how lucky I am to have born in a beautiful place like Thousand Oaks, with a beautiful family like mine.  

Today is Mother's Day, yet another reason to reflect, and I can honestly say that I am so incredibly grateful to have been born to my mother. My mom is one of those people who just makes friends. I've never seen her burn a bridge or end a friendship. She just loves. She has shown me how to love - how to build connections and how to keep them. She has raised three pretty great kids (if I do say so myself) and each of us has a little bit of her. Vinnie rambles the way our mom does, picking up conversations in the middle, after he's started them with himself. Gerard loves more openly and more honestly than anyone I've ever met. And I, well, I look like our mom and I talk like our mom and I'm a little weird like our mom. We share a similar sense of humor, and I know in about 30 years, I will practically be my mother. This is something that I am very grateful for because if I someday can give my children the courage to traveland the   opportunity to study abroad, then I'll have done something right. I know that my mother has sacrificed in order to give me the things that I want, and for that I am grateful. Realizing that a human being in the world loves me so much they are willing to put themselves second, feels pretty incredible. That's what it is - pretty incredible. The love between me and my mother, the opportunities I've had to travel, the way things fall into place - pretty incredible.