How Do You Measure a Year

A year ago today I found out that my mortgage for my dream property was approved. Facebook memories reminded me. It was also the day that my Dad's spirit came back after he had been hanging out on death's door for awhile. It was the day after my brother Kevin lost his battle to cancer and six months to the day that my Mom died.  Dad had emergency open heart surgery that ended up in cardiac arrest and began a long and difficult six month journey back to health. Way too much! As I look back there are hardly words to describe everything that was happening and how I got through it.  Well, maybe one word ...

Here's the post Facebook Memories showed me this morning:

April 14, 2018 at 8:08 PM, Bradenton FL

Dad's spirit is back! He is awake, alert, medically stable and responding well to everything he is being asked to do so he can finally move on to the next step in the rehab process. It is so good to look into his eyes and know it's really him looking back at me as he squeezes my hand to let me know he's really there. He can't talk yet with his trach, but soon ... really soon.

It's been a long and difficult year for me and my family. Watching my Mom slip away was difficult. Losing my brother Kevin, way too young, was way too much. Sitting at my Dad's bedside in Florida not knowing if he would pull through at the same time the rest of my family was saying goodbye to my brother was just crazy. At the same time, it's been a year full of insights, awareness, growth and transformation ... within each of us and all around us.

As I look back over my experience and reflect on how I survived it all, I realize that I have a powerful set of foundational tools and an amazing network of people supporting me. I am inspired now, more than ever, to share those tools with others as I fully embrace the role they play in my life today. I've had an amazing opportunity to get some pretty high level coaching with Jack Canfield, his team and a wonderful group of people who helped me sort out and map out the next steps in my journey. Jack was standing with me in the moment I gave consent for  my Dad's doctor to perform surgery that gave us the last chance for my Dad to come back from his medically induced coma and hooked up to a ventilator. 

So many thoughts and ideas flowing right now.

In this instant, the most exciting news right now is this. For those of you who have heard me talk about my dream of opening a retreat center, I just got word that my mortgage for the property I live in was approved. It is the ideal location at exactly the right time. Through all the challenges, this miracle emerged at exactly the perfect time in ways I never could have imagined. I never would have seen the house deal unfolding in the midst of the crisis and chaos if I had not had the foundation upon which I live my life today.

In the perfection, the duality in all of this is profound. It brings me to the question "what's good and what's bad?" From my perspective, it's all one. Just as we are all one. All opportunities to learn and grow and heal and transform fear to love, and ultimately, when we are ready, to serve.

Today Dad is back on the golf course. When I talked to him this morning. I could hear the excitement in his voice when he told me that he's back on the golf course and that he just got word that he qualified for the River Isles Annual Golf Tournament. And he could hear the excitement in my voice as I told him I was putting together my event schedule and business plan for Ripple on Silver Lake. Both of us expressed our gratitude with each other as we reflected back over the year. The miracles. The challenges. The connections. The magic. The love.  As I hung up the phone my thoughts led me to on of my favorite songs about life and love. How do you measure a year in the life ... ?

Seasons of Love from Rent (Original Cast Recording/1996)
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles. in laughter, in strife?
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?

How about love?
Measure in love ...

Seasons of Love
~Donny Osmond