Have you ever taken a bird’s-eye view of your entire life?

Imagine yourself floating above the earth high enough to view a timeline of your life.You would be able to glimpse the first  moment that you began to wonder about this “thing called “life”. Imagine viewing the moment that you began to think about what you would like to be when you grew up. You’d see all the events in between that have led you to the moment you’re in now. You’d view the great, not so great, the small, not so small, the happy and not so happy experiences that have led you to this place.

I have tried this exercise many times since my husband passed away. For me it’s been a part of my “sorting out”, a process by which I’ve tried to figure out how I ended up in this place, being a widow. This activity has also helped me to begin to figure out why I was born.

Some say when we die we will have a life review. Of course there is no substantial evidence that this will actually occur, as no one has come back to verify this notion. But this self-exploratory exercise is something that we can play around with and see if it helps us to answer questions we have about our purpose and the reason that we were born. It’s a self assessment of sorts, that helps us to understand where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re heading. We can also look at the events in our lives in an attempt to decipher the meaning of our experiences and figure out how they have helped to shape us and support us as we continue to create our path, on the go.

When you lose someone close, up close and personal, like I have, your perspective on life changes. Life begins to matter in a whole new way as you begin to see all people, places, and things through a different and often clearer lens. As a child I would wonder why people were mean to each other. I would think about how easy it would be if people were just more understanding, kind, patient and considerate as well as accepting of each other. I didn’t really understand that each individual is different, possesses different skills, talents, intellectual capabilities,personalities and emotions.In time I learned that we’re also influenced by our environment, our childhood, and the events and experiences that impact our lives along the way to adulthood.

As I’ve examined the breadth of my life, I can see myself  as a little girl who loved to play, dance and sing and whose favorite popsicle flavor was cherry. I see myself as the little girl who loved to ride her bike, pick flowers, go sledding and ice-skating. I see myself, in my mind’s eye, as a the girl who loved to read anything she could get her hands on. I loved mysteries, books about other girls, fairy tales and scary tales, books about people who led interesting lives. I loved reading the wedding announcements in the Sunday New York Times and imagined myself a Times bride.There were rarely ever any African-Americans, and the few who were included were so fair you didn’t know they were black, unless of course, you were familiar with the people and the surnames. My parents always knew the names.

I remember the days when I savored the aroma and taste of a good, hot cocoa. I also remember steeping hot bowls of tomato soup, a little milk poured in to cool it off when it was too hot. It was during those early years that I would wonder, as most children wonder, what my life might be like in the far off future. I even had dreams of my future that were filled with great expectations.

In recent years I’ve come to know, that I was always creating a plan for my life, as I thought about what I wanted to do, which changed every now and then. I sometimes imagined myself married and a mother, or working in Manhattan at some exciting job. Maybe I would be an artist, maybe I would even teach art. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was actually laying the groundwork and creating a blueprint that would carry me forward as I created my life’s course. Of course my parents steered me in the direction they thought that I should go, and with their wise teachings and constant goal setting, I went to university, attended graduate school and pursued professional goals that would lead me in the direction of my chosen career, which was education. My personal life was also fulfilled, as Ieventually met and married Chuck, the man of my dreams. Going from point A to point B may have seemed like sheer luck, but in actuality my subconscious and spirit were always leading me where I needed, and more importantly, wanted to go.

After my husband’s tragic illness and subsequent death, I began to re-examine my whole life. Not right away, but after some months when I was able, I began to wonder how I ended up in this place as a widow. I  knew that although I have often labeled my husband’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer as a random “act of violence”, I actually felt that there was a deeper meaning attached to that illness and the whole experience he and I shared. Oh, but then I do digress.

Many people experience unforeseeable events at some point in their lives, and these experiences are always life-changing. My situation is not so unique, but still carries the same devastation that comes with tragic loss. It is at these times, when our feet are being put to the fire, that we can decide to get burned or walk through the flames. These events are actually pivotal moments in our lives. When we’ve had some time to be able to digest everything and look back on the loss of a husband, wife, or other loved one, we can begin to understand that these are the moments that re-define our lives.

In my own life, as I slowed down a bit, and the veil of grief slowly began to lift, I was able to see that the circumstances of my entire life were not just random. All that I’d experienced and been through in my lifetime had been Divinely engineered. Even as I veered off course, I still ended up here, a widow. I laid the foundation for my life by my early thoughts, intentions and actions. Now, it is in this place, at this present time, that I have found a life full of grace, hope, and love. Writing and assisting others,who have gone through what I have gone through, is not what I would’ve imagined myself doing when I was young and mulling over ideas of who I wanted to  become. And, although my paternal grandmother had been a teacher, writer and a published author, I never expected to walk in her footsteps. It’s rather like being Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, as clicking those ruby-red slippers sent Dorothy back home. After having experienced many challenges she discovered she’d always had the power, the wherewithal, to get back to from whence she’d come, after she had been transformed by her experiences out in the world..

Home is where we come from, and it is always where we’re heading.We are on our own path, creating it as we go. The losses in my life revised my earnest plans and led me on a different road to opening my heart to those who suffer and hold onto pain. I’m serving others in a way that has allowed me to find myself and my own way home.

Whatever I thought my life would be like it actually has ended up exactly as I imagined, except for life’s travails along the way. But I now know, that even the unexpected were the moments where my life was about to take a turn and lead me toward my destiny. So it is here where I’ve always wanted to be and it is here where I will remain as I continue to follow my path on the road leading me back home, through life’s mysterious, magical wilderness, back to the the moon, the stars and the sun.

Navigating a grief journey? Need help? Read: Brave in a New World: A Guide to Grieving the Loss of a Spouse available on Amazon. https://tinyurl.com/jnjs5fu