5 Moments that Changed My Life
Looking back over my life since I hit 50 this summer, I can’t help but think about all those moments good and evil that turned me into the person I have become. While I was reading People magazine the other day, I saw the title “ 5 Moments that Changed My Life,” and I thought I am going to swipe the title and do my own five moments.
Mind you, these moments are some of the best and worst in my life. Some of these moments led to some pretty amazing moments, so I will be including these as well.
So here are the top 5 moments that have changed my life.
Meeting the Love of My Life
Meeting Raul was something I had only dreamed of and never thought would ever happen to me. I can still see him standing there at Lane Tree Golf Club- mind you the same place our daughter Maddie got married this summer- in his muscle T-shirt and shorts. He had just come back from visiting family in Mexico, and as soon as we met, it was all she wrote for both of us. We met June 28, by July, my birthday, we were dating each other exclusively, and we were engaged that December and married the following April. I always thought that those love of first sight movies were bogus until it happened to me. I mean when you know you know, right. From our 25 years together, we have three incredibly beautiful and talented daughters, who I would not trade the world for. So if it hadn’t been for that moment meeting Raul, my girls would not exist. ( See what I did there, I add the 3 moments of giving birth to my girls into this moment.
Losing a sibling / best friend
My sister Karen was only 3 years older than me, but because where her birthday fell, there was only a year between us in school. She was my best friend, my confidante, the keeper of my secrets, and my roommate growing up. Our relationship wasn’t always so friendly, I mean I still get kind of angry when I think about the times she would sit on me when she knew I had to go pee just so I would pee my pants. Don’t laugh – well, okay, you can laugh if you want to.
With Karen, there were no pretenses, and I didn’t feel less than I do with my other sisters. She accepted me for who I was without questioning what I was doing. She was the biggest supporter of my relationship with Raul when it first began. Even when she was in her hospital bed dying from cancer, she was more concerned about what to get Maddie ( I was pregnant with her at the time) when she was born. Sadly the week after she asked and coincidentally the week after we found out we were having a girl, my sister passed away. That is why Maddie has three names- Madeline “Karen” Marie. She is named after my sister. Karen and her husband Jerry, who I still call brother, never had any children. However, though she has been gone 24 years, I still consider Jerry family.
First time dealing with Death
I know death is just a part of life, but I was lucky enough not to really experience it until the second semester of my 8th-grade year. My dad checked me out of middle school, and on the way to the car, he told me my Grandma Dresser, my mom’s mom had passed away in her sleep. Losing her was a big blow to my childhood because we would always spend a month out of the summer in Massachusetts staying at her house. Every summer, we would drive from North Carolina to her home in Massachusetts and stay. My parents were both from there, so we would see all of our family, including my other grandma. And as a bonus, my best friend Kerrie lived right down the road from my Grandma so I would spend ¾ ths of my time at her house. That year death visited me twice. I lost both of my precious Grandmothers that year, Grandma Dresser in February and Grandma Greene in August.
The Death of a Parent
When you lose a parent, it is like you lose a part of yourself. Part of my identity was wrapped up in being Al Greene’s daughter. The legacy that he left is one of fairness, compassion, and willingness to lend a hand whenever it is needed. This is one of the reasons I am always in a funk during the holidays because his death hit me hard. It also opened my eyes to the effects of Agent Orange used in Vietnam.
Becoming a Mom-in-Love
This year, I watched my beautiful older daughter, Maddie marry her soul mate, Lex. Lex has been in our family what seems like forever. I already considered him as my son, but them getting married just made it official. To officially have him as my son-in-love is amazing. I couldn’t be anymore prouder of him if he were my own son.
As you can see, the 5 moments that stand out that changed my life revolves around birth and death. The birth of a new family and relationships and the deaths of some significant people in my life have made me the person I am today. Looking back, would I change it? Not for the world, I am who I am today because of those moments.
So tell me a moment that changed your life for better or worse?
