In The Morning...
"A hungry stomach,
An empty pocket,
And a broken heart
Can teach the best lessons of Life."
There are many lessons in this life. There are many teachers of those lessons. There are days when you know the lesson you are learning; but there are also great lengths of time when you may feel like you are just wandering.
When I was seventeen I graduated from high school. I didn't leave home, I left my mother's rented trailer house. I was the most surprised person in the world when I received gifts for graduation.
I was very thankful for the gifts. I took the money I was given, and any money I had saved through the year and bought a one way ticket back to Iowa.
I packed my worldly belongings in my suitcase, and my mother's 'man' friend took me to the Ohio Greyhound bus station.
My mother was peeved at me. She thought I should be flying instead of taking the bus, but my money was limited.
A school/church friend had invited me to come back for a visit after graduation. After a two week visit I moved to my Aunt and Uncles' place and began looking for a job.
I looked for about two weeks in the 'big city', but ended up waitressing in the small local town and living in a sleeping room.
I had already learned lessons about the empty stomach, the empty pocket and the broken heart. But I relearned them.
I didn't have a driver's license or a car—I couldn't afford either one and I lived within walking distance of the restaurant, so that worked.
It was a small town and come Thanksgiving Day everything was closed, including both restaurants. It was a quiet day for me. I walked over to the park perhaps wishing I had planned ahead.
It was a sleeping room, however, and no way to cook. So I walked back to my room and took a long nap.
But there are always things to be thankful for—my job the next day.
Somewhere between cool weather and snow my mother moved back to Iowa for a short time. She thankfully brought me my old winter coat.
I can't say the hungry stomach, empty pocket, and broken heart teach the best lessons. They just teach lessons, but maybe they're foundational lessons.
That's when you learn to be thankful for food, money to pay your bills, and someone to love and someone to be loved.
"Learn to appreciate what you have, before life makes you appreciate what you had."
