Third Time’s a Charm

We had plans to eat dinner with friends at a local restaurant about two weeks ago.  A night out with friends was just what I needed after having a particular overwhelming day.  All I wanted to do was sit, relax and eat.  Instead of digging in when my meal was ready, I laughed. 

Lifting the top bun of my chicken sandwich to add some ketchup to it, I laughed. 

“Hey, my chicken—it’s in the shape of a heart!” 

Making sure I wasn’t seeing things, I showed the sandwich to my friend.  She smiled and said, “It is a heart!”  I told her that after the day I’d had, I really needed the laugh that that heart-shaped sandwich gave me. 

I wish I’d taken a picture of my sandwich, because two times since that random heart sighting, I’ve seen two other random hearts.  Fortunately I had my camera with me and snapped a picture of them: 

I saw this leaf-shaped heart on a day that I was missing a friend 

who'd recently passed away.

I spied this smooshed piece of paper that looked like a heart in the parking lot soon after Ronan and I left a not-so-smooth therapy appointment.

Like that first random heart I saw in my chicken sandwich, the other two hearts showed up on days that included discouraging moments. 

Seeing those hearts made me pause.

They lifted my spirits. 

And they reminded me that tough moment are temporary.  Things get better.  They may take time to get better (and require a whole bunch of patience), but things eventually do get better.  

xo, Cat