“Sometimes,” Jem said, “our lives can change so fast that the change outpaces our minds and hearts. It’s those time, I think, when our lives have altered but we still long for the time before everything was altered–that is when we feel the greatest pain. I can tell you, though, from experience, you grow accustomed to it. You learn to live your new life, and you can’t imagine, or even really remember, how things were before.” (Clockwork Angel, p. 308)
I remember sitting in the hospital chapel on Easter Sunday just after the birth of my daughter. I sat there, with tears streaming down my face, just absorbing all the change. My life would never be the same again. It wasn’t. I left the hospital and embarked upon a completely different adventure.
What time in your life were you suddenly engulfed and overwhelmed by change?
Shawn L. Bird 
Reblogged this on Rollercoaster.
Yes, the birth of my first child….the start of a new career…the loss of my first love. All led to better paths.
These sound like VERY familiar milestones! lol
When both my parents passed away within 3 years of each other, Dad 1995, Mom 1998. My life changed because then I really became an adult who had to stand on her on two feet. No more parents to run to when problems arose. The second biggest change was right before I turned 50 and found myself in the E.R. on St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital with my blood pressure nearly hitting 200. Realizing that God saved me for a reason. I was put on this earth for a purpose and my goal has since then to manifest that purpose. Next year I will turn 55 and make a giant leap forward towards my calling.
Good luck with your great leaps!
It has been said that the only permanent thing mankind knows is change. It demands the best of us…determination, flexibility, open minds and hearts…and sometimes the worst of us emerges. I have had many changes in my life divorce, jobs, locations, but the most demanding was serving in the Peace Corps. It is a great experience, but you have to adapt to being away from your country, family, friends, language, and customs, to learn new ways and to cope with feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and sometimes fear. The in-country family I lived with for three months and the friends I made in the PC are treasured to this day. Change carries both challenges and rewards.
Having been an exchange student, your Peace Corps experience sounds very familiar. 🙂 My year in Finland with 4 very different host families was all about change.
With the birth of each child, life changes, but none of these changes shook me as much as the death of one of my children. It has been nine years, and I am not now, nor ever will be, the same person I was before his death.
I can imagine. My sympathies to you.