Adjective: fortunate
favored by or involving good luck or fortune; lucky. "She'd been fortunate to escape more serious injury."
Synonyms: lucky, favored, blessed, blessed with good luck, in luck, having a charmed life, charmed.
I'm not a woman of great means. I do not live a glamorous life. As far as material things go, I am lacking in the most comical of ways. I have one brush, it is travel sized and has been broken for at least 5 months. I have a total of $30 to my name. My closet has 30 hangers in it, which all of the clothes I own fit on. Rice and eggs have been (and will continue to be) what my diet consists of. I have no computer, no iPad, no iPod, no tv and my phone people tend to laugh at. In my cupboards I have 2 plates, 2 bowls and 2 pans in which to prepare my meager meals. I have no health insurance. No dental insurance. And plenty of dental problems.
However, I am fortunate. Very, very fortunate.
I have a family that has been through hell in every capacity. We've hurt each other and watched others hurt us. Each of us has our own life, drastically different from one another. Yet, we love. We NEVER doubt that love either. We are family, through and through. We are unbreakable. Something I know to be true, because I've watched life try to tear us apart. And sometimes we do get pulled away from one another, but we never fully fall apart. We heal and become closer with a stronger bond. I am fortunate.
Friendships are different than the family dynamic. Friendships you choose. Friendships you work to maintain. Friendships can happen at any moment.
I've had friendships grow from the most peculiar of situations. When you travel, you quickly learn what friendships are lasting and what friendships are fleeting. It is sad when you leave a place and a friend and you realize that what you shared was temporary. Of course, this is life. Some friendships are only meant to last a season. But it is sad nontheless. Other times you leave a place and a friend and you find you've built a bond that time and space does not affect. And that, that is beautiful, precious and not to be taken for granted. I am fortunate.
Everywhere I go, I am introduced to people who treat me with kindness, love and respect. I am fortunate.
Starting over is always a bit daunting. Even when you're happy to be where you are. Starting a new life in Chicago is proving to be very interesting. I have a really great small group of friends that continues to grow. In a short time I've become a part of their unit, which keeps me happy and balanced in this new life. I am fortunate.
The family I nanny for is wonderful and kind and treat me with respect (often not the case when you're "the help"). We are getting to know each other and building what is no doubt a lasting bond. The girls give me tight hugs and tell me they love me. I am fortunate.
I hope each of you can look at your lives and see where fortune has kissed your lives. I hope you can hold tightly to that knowledge, especially when you feel less than fortunate.
"The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate."
-Francis Bacon