I spent the day yesterday with a friend who just found out her father passed away. It was such an emotional day and just absolutely heartbreaking. It's so hard to watch someone who is filled with sadness, regret, grief and so many more complicated emotions. You want to be there for that person and take away their pain, but unfortunately nothing can do that for them.

I'm a big believer in, you are not given more than you can handle. Some people seem to be given a lot more to deal with than others, and Lauren is an example of that. She's been through so much in her life, but you would never know that meeting her. She's so empathetic, compassionate and kind to everyone she meets. She never diminishes what you're going through just because she's been through worse, she listens and supports instead. I'm truly amazed with her and how she handles each hurdle in her life.

Being around Lauren yesterday most certainly helps put life into perspective for me. I feel as though I'm always focusing on what's next, what I don't have or what I could do better instead of living in the moment and appreciating what I have. My sister and I talk about this frequently and it's something I'm working really hard on. Yesterday, for example, when I came home I had a few missed calls from my sisters and a text that said "Did you hear about mom?" Instantly my head went to the worst situation possible. When I called my sister back she said my mom fell off her bike and broke her collar bone. At that point, I wasn't sure what to feel. Obviously, so much relief that it wasn't worse, but then I felt terrible that she's in pain and I'm here instead of home helping her. But then I thought about it some more. Thank GOD nothing more happened to her! That had potential to be a lot worse than it was and even if she needs surgery to fix it, she's still is OK.
It took stepping back from going to all the bad situations to realize that currently, in this moment, my mom is well and will be ok! I'm going to try to continue to focus on living in the present and take each situation as it comes!