Nutella

After watching this video posted on fb,

I was talking to my fourteen year old student about angels and reincarnation, and she told me two things.
1. She told me the story of her grandfather, an Italian soldier captured by the Nazis and taken to Auschwitz. Her grandfather was an outgoing man who could sew, cook and clean, so they put him to work instead of sending him to the gas chamber. He spent six months in Auschwitz until he was liberated. Her grandfather died on Aug. 18th at 6:00pm about five years ago. The year after he died, her family visited and took a tour of Auschwitz on August 18th. They completed their tour, headed for their car, entered and turned on the radio. To their surprise, her grandfather's favorite song was playing, she looked at the clock and it read 6:00pm.

2. Her aunt's husband died in a horrifying motorcycle crash. Her aunt met her new husband at the funeral and one year later at age 40 had a baby.

A couple of days ago "a good friend of mine" called to talk to me and the first thing he said was, "So, have you put the gas pipe in your mouth yet?"

Every single day we suffer tragedies, insults, being laid off, not getting the loan, not being able to make the loan payment, horrifying diagnoses, family problems, situations with our kids...

This is life.

Life is also snow, an unexpected email, a first lost tooth, finding a five dollar bill in the street, a chocolate lindor ball, a new job, a new crush, a touchdown in the clutch, the day after Christmas...because after 24 hours, I promise, it does arrive.

When we consciously choose to suffer, we choose life. When we suffer and it is not by choice, we learn to appreciate life and the people who come in and out of it at the most unexpected moments.