The Hardest Year ...

Originally Published July 31, 2021

Today is our 6th anniversary of "Something Wonderful". The day we said "I do", embracing each other, and this life together. It was something wonderful.

This relationship has always been easy - even in the toughest of circumstances, it has been easy. Until ... the hardest year.

This has been the hardest year. It has felt heavy, uncomfortable, stifling, and painful. I've been everything and nothing; strong and weak, lost ... and found. All the while he's stayed steady at the helm. This has been the hardest year.

The hardest year compared to what? As I reflect on my life, I have come to realize ... I have endured many of what felt like the "hardest years". The year my brother died. The year my friend died by suicide. The first year of my daughter's life. The year of divorce. The year my dad died. The year Paul was diagnosed with IPF, and many other "hardest years".

Looking back at all of these "hardest years", I see now that life is full of those times when it simply feels like the "hardest year". It doesn't matter why or how ... in those moments ... in that year ... it most definitely is the hardest year.

In reflection I have also come to see this actually wasn't the hardest year ... it was simply a hard year. A year that sucker-punched me a few times - many times actually. A year that taxed me and all my emotions. A year that reminded me life rarely goes to plan.

As I reflect on our something wonderful that began 6 years ago, I realize this "hardest year", no matter how it may have felt has truly been a gifted year. I am reminded.

6 years ago doctors told us 3 years ... so we simply didn't anticipate that we'd still be here, in this space and time - together, but WE ARE.

And so, as I look over at my husband Paul today, my heart continues to be full and I am so very grateful. We had another year. It might have felt like the hardest year - but it wasn't really my hardest year, and most importantly - we had it. Together.

6 years later I am still sharing this space and time with the man who changed my life. The man who loves me at my best - and loves me even more at my worst. The man who doesn't always "get" me, and yet he does. The man who supports me in all I am and all I do - even when it doesn't make sense to him. The man who was one "click" away from me never having met him. The man I am privileged to call Pauly - my husband.

As I reflect on all of this, and have once again found myself, I also anticipate that my hardest year is likely yet to come. So today ... I will bask in a heart full and with renewed gratitude. I will remind myself that today, no matter how "hard" it may seem - it is all any of us really have. Today.

Today we will celebrate what seemed like the "hardest year". One more year ... in this space and time ... together. Something Wonderful.

Happy anniversary to us!

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About the author:

Karen Hendrickson is an Elevation Coach, focused on helping others to rewrite their life story, befriend their mortality, and find the richness and magic that lives at the intersection of our lives where life and death meet. When we allow our authentic self permission to shine our life becomes full of MAGIC and GREATNESS.  Contact karenttjourney@gmail.com and start working with her today!