Snow Globe

If I close my eyes, I can still see myself--that little blond-haired, blue-eyed girl with the lop-sided dimples--mesmerized by one of my grandmother's pretty little musical snow globes; tiny fingers, touching the enchanting tiny, magical world before me. I can see myself, standing there, breath fogging up the make-believe world precariously balanced in the palms of my clumsy, childish hands. Suddenly, ferociously, I shake, and everything is covered in a blanket of softly falling snow and I'm lost in the tinkling music.

The music stops, my eyes open and here I am--now a dark-haired, blue-eyed woman, peering out from behind thick glasses--so far away from that little girl, full of magic and wonder. Yesterday, though, I went sled riding for the first time in many years. There I was, barreling down the hill, roaring with belly laughs and with happy tears streaming down my cold, rosy cheeks. The little blond-haired girl in me came out to play for the first time in a long, long time and reminded me how much I had missed her. 

It's hard to think of yourself as an innocent young child, knowing all that life will throw at you in the future. Battling Lyme disease is the most difficult thing that I have been through and I know that I will have to go through many, many more difficulties, but that is what makes life so precious and all the more worth truly living: the beauty, the love, the triumph. 

Life is so-often a struggle, and it's easy to let our difficulties steal the magic of life away from us. But, there's a child who remains in each and every one of us, triumphantly shaking that snow globe, waiting for the magic, waiting and hoping to come out and play again; to once more find the beauty in the little things. 

So what are you waiting for? Shake, shake, shake that snow globe and let life's magic fall upon you. You're never too old to be young again.