In Your Corner

Despite countless obstacles, my daughter's friends throw her a surprise party. They have pulled together balloons and streamers, snacks and cake, and, perhaps most impressive of all, a fairly good surprise.

I am, to be sure, impressed with their efforts, not to mention, relieved that I wasn't the one who had to plan a surprise. But most of all, I am touched by the fact that they made it important enough to schedule their lives for. When the time came, they were in my daughter's corner, laughing, and singing, and making her feel special.

I have realized, perhaps more so in the last few years, how important it is to have people in your corner. For years, I went to the same place daily, so the "corners" were obvious. But when that changed, and the corners were often the tiny little corners of the couch that I snuggled in to, scared to face the world or to spend any money, there were friends and family who, though not necessarily on the couch with me, were firmly in my corner. They hung in for the low points, and celebrated the successes. They helped make my corner be a safe place, rather than a lonely one. And they helped me get to what became one new step, and then another.

So, when I look and see that my kids have people (and not just me and the rest of our family) in their corner, I am happy to feel as though they'll make it through--through both the surprise parties and the not-so-festive times. Because I know what the people in my corner have done for me. It's largely thanks to them that I am here, not washed up yet, to write about it.