Being in love

Can you be in love without having a significant other?  It's a strange question to ask however I found myself giving it serious thought. 

I believe I am in love.  I am dating no one, seeing no one, not even texting or talking to anyone.  However, I experience that euphoric feeling almost every day.  I have fallen in love with life, my life.   Sound crazy? Probably is, unless you are the person experiencing the joy and euphoria. 

Some days when I reflect over my life I am overwhelmed at the number of times life has spilled my coffee and how much of my coffee it has spilled.  40 years old, single mother to four wonderful children (who I yelled at last night and this morning because they didn't do their chores), divorced, filed bankruptcy, survived 16 years in an abusive marriage, no one would describe my childhood as healthy or normal.   Those are just a few of the times life has spilled my coffee and yet I am still in love with life. 

Every single experience has taught me something or changed my life.  The other day I went on a date, it wasn't a blah boring date.  Frankly the guy showed up hung over and put zero effort into making an impression.  The restaurant he chose had poor reviews on YELP yet he couldn't be bothered to check YELP prior to arranging our date.  So we went, the service was horrible with the exception of one young man.  He cleaned the table while we waited, went out of his way to make our meal as pleasent as possible despite the obstacles the manager and kitchen staff were putting in his way.  We watched and observed, I mentioned him to my date.   It just happened my date is an executive in the food industry, he noticed the young man as well.  At the end of our evening, my date approached the young man, asked a few questions, gave him his business card and asked the young man to give him a call the following day.  The young man called, completed an application and is currently being interviewed for a manager position with a major food chain.  

When I look back on that evening, I don't regret anything about it.  Maybe my date wasn't on his A game, obviously he should have made more effort (perhaps he would have gotten a second date) however, because of his choices a young man's life has been changed.  Even if the young man doesn't get the management position this time, he knows an executive in his industry thought highly enough of his character to ask him to apply.  You can bet he will apply again and again until he gets the position he wants. 

Learn to love life... everything about it, the good and the times your coffee is spilled.  Find the good things...they are always there.