Everyone Deserves a Lifetime - EVERYONE

***Updated December 14, 2012 - And today, innocent victims had their lives taken from them by a senseless gunman who decided it was better to slaughter innocent children and adults then take their own life.  It wasn't cancer that took these lives, it was a selfish human who decided it was okay to take innocent lives before their own.  With all the danger in the world out of our control, what made this person decide they could play God and introduce more?  Somehow, this blog post just seems more poignant than ever.  Everyone deserves a lifetime, EVERYONE.  Bless those angels and their families. ***

This year, I participated in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure.  It was a 60 mile, 3 day journey with one goal in a mind, a cure for breast cancer.  I met so many wonderful women, men and kiddos out there walking, supporting us, and cheering us on; that alone was worth the pain that we felt the end of each day, or the tears that would come on with warning and not want to stop.  I felt my Grandmother's presence with me along the way, sometimes she was asking me what I was thinking without a car and sometimes she was on my shoulder telling me that I could make the next mile.

While on the journey, I had plenty of time to think about what is important in life as the mantra for the walk is Everyone Deserves a Lifetime.  What is a lifetime?  It is the days you are alive?  The simple minutes and hours you spend breathing on this earth?  It is the time after childhood when you have to take care of yourself..."when I am grown up and can do whatever I want" so to speak?  Is it a collection of good moments that you look back on and smile? Or is it those rough moments you learned from or just survived? Is it the people you meet, those you remain in contact with or those who fade away.  What is a lifetime?

I like to think a lifetime is all of those things and more.  Our family, the friends, strangers, acquaintances; the good times, the bad; the kid years and adult years; the past you learned from and the future you dive head long into whether you want to or not.

All that to say, a lifetime is personal to each one of us, and I know everyone deserves one.  Go live yours - it is always worth it and you more than deserve a great one.