Another Year Older

And it's funny how it's the little things in life that mean the most
Not where you live, what you drive, or the price tag on your clothes
There's no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I've come to know
So if you agree have a drink with me
Raise you glasses for a toast

~Zac Brown Band

Today is my birthday.  I have only scratched the surface on this thing called aging.  I am by no means graceful at all.  As I begin to slide {please read: scratch, claw, a cut-up my knees kind of groping the hill} down the back edges of my thirties into my forties, I can't help but get the lyrics listed above out of my head.

Picture it ~ a dollar sign on everything in our life, the price to pay to live in this world where we live.  But when arriving at peace of mind -true quiet and calmness- there is no dollar sign.  It is free: to you, to me, to him, to her, to the young, and to the old.  We just have to arrive at that point of peace. 

Gasp.

I can't say that I was ever at this point in my twenties.  I would be exaggerating if I told you I am at that place in my thirties…Far from it.  But I am getting there. 

I have little people I love, and big people that love me.  I have serenity on most days.  I understand that it isn't always about what I can put in my hands that shows me what I have.  I have much, much more.  Some days are struggles filled with questions.  Other days are like the smooth, placid lakes where I long to spend my summer. 

Just as a striking hillside is beautiful, so is this life that we are living.  The hillside swoops and rolls, just like our day to day adventures.  Some days the sun shines bright warming the lush, cool, green grass.  Other days, the darkest of clouds hover about threatening a storm any minute.  However, the hills never change; they remain still, silent, and robust. 

I will always be trekking up and down these hills.  Even if the terrain flattens in front of me, the path will not stay that way forever.  Every life is filled with hurdles, moments of joy and sorrow.  It isn't about how burdensome my journey gets or how long I go without feeling the golden sun upon my neck.  No, the richness of living is in the journey, following it until the end.  The peace of mind is found in the choices and what events those choices bring.  There really isn't a dollar sign on the peace.  It can't be bought, yet only found. 

 

~So if you agree have a drink with me...Raise you glasses for a toast!

Chicken Fried
Zac Brown Band