Alyice on November 28th, 2009

Echo Challenge Surprise

“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.”
– Boris Pasternak

It’s echo time! This time the prompt is “surprise”. When I first thought about the word “surprise”, I thought about all the fun, exciting, and unexpected events that occur in life, but reading Christi’s post reminded me that surprises can also come in heartbreaking ways, too.

In my life, I’ve experienced several heartbreaking events that have come as complete and utter surprises—some so debilitating that they left me comatose for months on end, others changing the direction of my life forever.

But it’s the good surprises that make life worth living. They turn ordinary days into extraordinary days, they turn tears of sorrow into tears of joy, they make the mundane livable, and they create memorable memories.

Take this frog, for instance. It’s a simple surprise that has been etched in our minds forever. You see, we drove several hours to watch my son play in a baseball tournament. During a break, my daughter, her grandmother, and I decided to explore the area. That’s when we found a nature preserve without a single bird. That’s right…the birds had flown south for the winter and had yet to return. Bummed, we decided to make the most of our time by taking a little hike and that’s when we discovered the area was ripe with singing frogs. For the next few minutes, my life was filled with laughter as I watched my daughter chase after this little guy in an effort to “hold him just once”. But the pure joy came not in the capture, but in the music that came with each stroke of its back—yes, for a brief moment he seemed to enjoy her touch…and then he was off.

Sometimes surprises are like that. They are simple, fun, exciting, and new. And sometimes they are life altering, like the day I chose to support my friend by chaperoning her date and ended up finding my soul mate in the process or the days I conceived and gave birth to each of my children.

Other times surprises remind us how special we are, like opening the door to find an unexpected visitor, or waking up to breakfast in bed, or coming home after a long day of work to find all the chores done, or opening the mail to discover a handwritten note from a long distance friend, or being told you’re going out to run errands only to be surprised with tickets to your favorite musical.

And then there are times surprises are like in-the-moment blessings that grow into fond memories, like the time I was walking to school and was startled by a young girl who jumped out of the bushes to ask if she could walk to school with me—she soon became one of my dearest and most cherished childhood friends.

Indeed, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, the amount of money in our bank account, or the surplus of material possessions we own. Life is measured by the many surprises that provide true moments of happiness; moments that become memorable memories.

Until next time…

P.S.

Please stop by my Echo partner’s post on surprises. She totally gets that there is so much more than what is on the surface. Surprisingly Resilient.

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Comments (8)

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Brenda Lynn says:
“Life is measured by the many surprises that provide true moments of happiness; moments that become memorable memories.”

Oh, I just love this! So very, ery true. Wonderful post, Alyice.
Posted at 4:51 pm November 30th, 2009
Gena says:
Great post!! Such wonderful words, you write so well!
Posted at 2:44 am December 5th, 2009
Becky New says:
This is a WONDERFUL post! Thank you so much for sharing your work and writing.
Posted at 7:09 am December 5th, 2009
Alyice says:
Thank you Becky and Gena for the kind words about my writing, for leaving a comment, and for visiting!
Posted at 11:58 am December 5th, 2009
diane cook says:
You have been blessed with a beautiful talent for sharing stories. =) All of these surprises you chose to “give” us today are full of shear happiness! They indeed touched my heart! Thank you so much for this post…it was a true blessing. =)
Posted at 12:32 pm December 6th, 2009
Alyice says:
Thank you Diane, for the sweet comment.
Posted at 1:05 pm December 6th, 2009
Brenda Wampler says:
Love this…great pictures and the way you merged the two is just perfect!
Posted at 8:25 pm December 6th, 2009
Alyice says:
Thanks Brenda!
Posted at 8:35 pm December 6th, 2009

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