I can’t remember who told me this or where I read it, but I once encountered a concept that struck me, stayed with me, and has significantly impacted my thinking over the years: people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
I had my first "encounter" with depression my sophomore year of college. I remember the time and place of it like it was yesterday - and even still today as I reflect on it I can feel those first moments - the emptiness, the confusion, the loneliness and desperation. Sadness swept over me like a wave, and the lights went out all around me. And, more painfully, the lights went out inside of me. I had no idea what was happening, and I certainly didn’t know what to do about it.
It’s only as a result of difficult circumstances that trees grow in the direction of achieving their full potential…
I’ve been thinking a lot about noise lately. My upstairs neighbors are obnoxiously loud, to the point that I sometimes have to wear earplugs to get any peace and quiet in my own house. Traffic is loud, both outside my window and in the busyness of trying to get around in it. And there are just so many of us living in what feels like a smaller and smaller world that sometimes I feel like I’m crashing into people all over the place. And I hear clamor.
My truth, simply stated, is this: I believe that women should individually and solely control their reproductive destinies [with input from and support of their partners if they so choose]. I believe that children deserve to come into the world fully-desired. And I believe that American society at large benefits from the availability of safe and legal abortions.
Someone asked me recently “Do you ever think maybe you haven’t met your mate because you haven’t done all the stuff you’re supposed to do before you get to that phase of your life?” Well, no, I’d never considered that, or if I had, I’d left it at that - a consideration, nothing to actually act upon. But maybe, just maybe, I’ve got some unfinished business I’m supposed to tend to.
Some Unfinished Business 