There is Always Hope

This picture is from September 2014.

I was sitting on the couch in my oldest sister’s home in Connecticut when @ckim1189 took this snapshot. I had spent most of that afternoon holding and playing with my nephew, who was about four months old. He had been born in Hong Kong, where my sister lived at the time with her job, so it was a few months before I had the chance to meet him. I remember sitting there in the sunlit living room, a little envious of my sister, in her beautiful home with this new adorable little soul in her life. Chris and I had been married for five years but hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. ❤️

If only I had known that less than one year after this picture was taken, I would be newly home from the hospital, holding our own precious little soul: Lucy. Isn’t it funny how much can change in often a short period of time. I look back at this picture and am so proud of this young woman. I am proud of everything she will accomplish in the six and a half years that followed. She probably wouldn’t have believed me if I sat down next to her on this day and said, “in six and a half years, you will be in a home of your own in the hometown you grew up in with three children.” I would have probably laughed. Chris probably would have cracked a beer. 😉 But gosh I would have felt hope in days when I needed it most.

So maybe what I’m saying is – first, celebrate the person who got you to where you are today. Way too often we go RIGHT for our flaws. I do it everyday, especially as a working mom. But I would love to hear one thing you would tell the “you” from six and a half years ago if you were sitting next to them on a couch. What’s one accomplishment you are proud of that you would tell them all about to spark that hope for the future?

… because after all, remember there is always hope. ✨