This Week's Gratitude Post

It's funny how certain music from certain eras of your life will take you back, making you remember and feel things you haven't in years. I started listening to my really old albums tonight while I was studying, once again, for the GMAT and Falling Into You, an album by Celine Dion came on my iTunes. I haven't listened to these songs in FOREVER. And suddenly I remembered how I felt, as a little girl getting this album for my birthday.

I was obsessed with music as a girl, still am, and this was only my second album. When I opened it I think I screamed cause I was so excited. And so many good memories along with that one came flooding back: belting out "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" in the car with my mom, listening to the entire album and dancing with my sisters for hours pretending to film music videos, and teaching myself the beginnings of songwriting by picking apart the chord and lyric structure.

Then I remembered sitting on the floor, the boom box my dad gave me playing the album for the thousandth time probably, and the second song, "Because You Loved Me," started playing. My mom came around the corner of the hallway and through the door of my room and said that if there was a song ever written that described how she felt about my dad, it was that one. She began to tell me how everything good in her life came from the love she shared with my dad. That no matter how imperfect they both were, and all the mistakes they made and would surely make in the future, that she was the wife, mother, and person she was because of the appreciation, confidence, support and safety she found in being loved by my dad and loving him in return.

I realized tonight thinking of these memories just how much these little things impacted the way I viewed life, not only at the time, but also strengthened me and determined how I would face the challenges I experienced later. A dear friend, who I actually ended up dating, once said one of the things he loved most about me was the fact that I didn't give up on anyone. And I don't because I come from two parents that never gave up on each other, no matter what challenges they faced. I'm so grateful for that.