There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a Miracle.” -Albert Einstein
My family and I went on a Vacation to Legoland recently and stayed at this beautiful resort in Carlsbad, California. One morning, before our first day in the park, my family and I were sitting down for breakfast when I noticed this beautiful women enter the lobby.
She was tall and statuesque. Her dark hair fell loosely around her light-complected makeup-less skin and her outfit looked casual but at the same time, very expensive. She looked so put together and effortlessly beautiful. She exuded power and grace in such a simple way that I was just in awe of her.
And then, for a brief moment, I wondered what it was like to be her.
Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever seen someone and wondered what their life was like? What their day to day routine consisted of? If they were happy or sad, pleased with their life or completely unhappy? I do. I would love to know what her life was like! Maybe she was some top executive putting together a multi-million dollar account. Or a movie star in the making. Perhaps she was having an affair and this was her getaway! My imagination let loose!
But then I wondered, if she wondered what mine was like. Or if anyone did for that matter. If they saw me, and thought “It must be great to be a mother and have a family”…
Here we were, she and I, almost the same age, but in completely different life stages. I was carting around my children off to Legoland on vacation on a Wednesday morning dressed in Nikes, a hooded sweatshirt and cut off jeans, while she was decked out in J. Crew. Did she ever stop to think about what it was like to be me?
Not in an envious, or superior way, just simply what it would be like. For me, I did. At that moment. She was being whisked away by an older man for maybe a breakfast date and I was cleaning up the mess my kids made.
I just think, if the winds of opportunity changed and I wasn’t 31 with kids, would I be in her shoes? Had I stayed in the professional track would I too, be in a resort hotel on a business meeting? I’m not sure.
But I wonder if she would look at me and think the same. What would it like to be a mom and have a family and feel settled in a family type situation at 31? What would it be like to chase after little ones? I wondered if she was even at the point of wanting children and if there was a side of her that did.
What a beautiful thing it would be if we could peer into the minds and lives of other individuals and see how great WE have it. At times I often forget how fortunate I am to be where I am now. To have wonderful children and an amazing husband. Maybe the winds would have shifted a different direction, and I wouldn’t be in her shoes, or the ones I’m in now. I guess of all things I think about, that is the scariest. Not, what if I could be her, but what if I didn’t have all of the love I have now.
Has there ever been a time where you wondered what it would be like to be in another persons shoes? Or wondered if you had just taken that job, or married that person how your life would be? Do you think you would be better off or the same?
Just Curious!
Xo-Mimi
Mimi B.C. 