I think that’s about what sums up life, at least my life now.

A square:

We all know they have 4 right angled corners. You travel down one side, you immediately turn, travel again, turn, and so on. It’s a very rigid and orderly shape.

I’d say that was my life earlier on. I married young. We had a plan. That plan ended. Probably because our plan was so rigid and goal-oriented. Not that we aspired to great job positions or wealth, it was just a plan. We had hit corner after corner. We didn’t know how to compromise. There were only right angles, nothing was obtuse.

Then we divorced.

A triangle:

It has three angles of varying degrees based on the length of its side. It’s a little less predictable. A triangle can come in many different dimensions.

During my divorce, I had to learn who I was. So, while I didn’t have 90 degree angles anymore, I was learning about me and how much I could bend. After all, I pretty much went form my parents home to my married home and now to a single mom divorced home with three children. Whew! Glad I got all that out.

It’s a good thing that triangles have varying degrees. This is when I searched to be myself and not compromise my relationship or responsibility with my kids. Although the divorce gave them some tumultuous years.

So, as the lengths in my triangle grew and shrunk, and the angles changed, it did help me become less uptight. That’s the great thing about triangles… they can never go wrong. No matter what the degree of their angles. As long as there are three, it’s still a triangle that allows some flexibility just when you need it. Discover how much you want to look at things and live with another angle in life.

And then I met and married Steve. He had his standards… his right angles and obtuse angles, but we made our angles work together through thick and thin. Good times, bad times, travel times, great times, party times, kids times, sad times, happy times… but it was ultimately our time.

A Circle:

As we all know, a circle has no angles. It’s a continuum. It goes round and round and… well, you get the picture.

I think… therefore, it’s true, I am now officially a circle. I’ve done all the hard things… raised three children, helped one through college, another one through the Navy. I’m still a roommate with our special needs daughter. I’ve lost all parents on both sides, and lost two brothers. And I lost Steve.

But if a circle is a continuum, did I really lose them?

I’ve been reading a book by my favorite author, Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat.

And if you turn to page 241, this is what is printed:

When someone passes, Benjamin, people always ask , ‘Why did God take them?’ A better question would be ‘Why did God give them to us?’ What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet moments we shared? Didn’t you have such moments with Annabelle?

These moments are a gift . But their end is not a punishment. I am never cruel, Benjamin. I know you before you are born. I know you after you die. My plans for you are not defined by this world.

Beginnings and endings are earthly ideas. I go on . And because I go on, you go on with me. Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you. But the human form is not permanent. It was never meant to be. That gift belongs to the soul.

Mitch Albom, THe Strange in the Lifeboat

So, why did our daughter buy me this particular Mitch Albom book when I still have a few others to read? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why do I find so much truth in this? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why do I believe that God gives us people in our lives to serve a purpose? Squares, triangles, circles… 🤷🏻‍♀️

I believe He gives us all the angles and people we need at the that time in our lives to choose our paths, learn from or correct that path, change it, bend those angles, until we get to that time where we are in total acceptance of him and the choices we made.

Then we are a ⭕️ circle. I have come full circle. We know I can’t bring Steve back in a physical sense, but his spirit will never leave, our times and our memories will always be ours. It truly is a circle of life, I just wish I knew this earlier in life so I wouldn’t have spent so many years of worry and anxiety over what would be so endearing and enjoyable and enlightening in my later years.

So, a few last words…

I hope Mitch Albom doesn’t come after me because I give him full credit. But I’d love to meet him… call 📞me!

I believe God sends people into our lives for a purpose, to teach or show us something… love, tolerance, patience, or because we have a strength to handle or a weakness we need to strengthen, or a battle of our own demons that we can turn around to help others.

But, the geometry is up to us… again… God gives us choices…

Are you a square… a triangle… a circle…? ❤️