Evolution is all around us…

Evolution. It’s a word that has caused much controversy over the years. But I’m not writing to debate the concept.
I see evolution in my life. It’s everywhere I look. I went home this past weekend and there are so many changes in my home city. Freeways are being constructed, businesses are opening and closing and there’s a new family in my last home I lived in before I moved away. They even painted the house — the house we had painted together as a family do match the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. Evolution. Progress. Changes.

My nephew is growing like a weed. He’s a character, a person all his own. I was amazed at the changes I noted in him since the last time I saw him. He’s a delightful little boy — his parents should be proud.
My brother is selling his house — the house he and his wife renovated together. They are selling and moving to a larger lot, somewhere where they “can’t smell the neighbor’s breakfast cooking,” my brother commented. More changes. Their lives are evolving.

My mother started driving a bus for the public school system. She seems to enjoy it and talks about all her kiddos a lot. My father is still plugging away at home following his hip break just over a year ago. Their lives are evolving as well. There’s a new normal there and it started when the role reversed after my father broke his hip. He’s come a long ways, but things won’t ever be the same.

My life is ever-evolving as I’ve entered an online graduate school with The University of Phoenix. I’ve started writing a novel. I’ve become more involved in my community by joining the community chorus and last night spent my first evening volunteering at the local soup kitchen. I’m feeling better about myself despite some life-changing events over the past couple of years and the past couple of months. I’m changing. Change can be painful…but, for the most part, recent changes have been good.

Change is all around us. Evolution is all around us. I’m learning to embrace change instead of fighting it. You can’t prevent it. Rather we can embrace it and hold onto it. Even if sometimes it hurts.