Different

What makes me beautifully different? Bottom line. I am different. I've always thought differently. My red hair makes me look different. Being different has always been a part of me.

Perhaps what people see is that I believe in consequences. I believe in redemption. I know we can be better, kinder, less focused on material goods and being "better" than others. I hope to be good, and am sometimes bad, but strive to do the right thing.

Doing the right thing, though, changes upon circumstance, environment, even day of the week. And sometimes even planning it, it turns out wrong, or rather, not right.

And I do wonder what impact this will have at the end of my life. Will my actions and thoughts really light others up? Will they be inspired? Will they remember me? Will there be light once again at the end of the tunnel?

But really, what counts, what is really important is what I do while I am here. There may be an after-life but I'm not counting on it. I don't look forward to "heaven" where everything is wonderful. I work to make my life here, on terra firma, as heavenly as I can, as fulfilled, as deep, as passionate as I can. I want there to be a mark when I'm gone: a scorch in the earth where my light once shined so brightly that it left a mark. Maybe that's what makes me different. This is what I have. This is who I am. I will be there for you, with you, looking forward to what is coming next. Lighting it up!

Different? Perhaps, but aren't we all just a bit different? Isn't that what lights us all up, keeps the flow going, inspires and tires us, and makes life interesting?

Make a difference. Make it count. We never know what it will end.

Peacefully.