3 Seconds

One of my very favorite bloggers, Heather Armstrong, writes the blog Dooce. I love to read Dooce for several reasons-because she is side-splittingly funny, irreverent, intelligent, and painfully honest. Heather has been blogging since before anyone knew what a 'blog' was, and she has become the epitome of blogger success, despite (or in spite of?) losing her job over her posts. And Heather doesn't sugar-coat life. She suffers from depression and honestly writes about how it effects her, her family, and their everyday life. And, being married to an oft-depressed non-communicative male, what she writes has helped me to understand some of what Clint goes through. I got to meet her at this year's SXSW, and I managed to not make a complete fool of myself.

Yesterday, Heather posted about her 6 year anniversary. Not something that would normally inspire commentary from me, despite the fact that I am a total sap. But in this post, she chronicled some of the really difficult stuff they have gone through over the last 6 years. And, not that I would evr wish any of the stuff that we have gone through (or are going to go through) on someone else, but it's nice to know that we aren't the only ones getting shit on by the universe. The post focuses on something her friend told her, that "No matter what horrible thing you're going through, when it's all over it only takes three seconds to sum it up. Remember that." And that helps. A little. It provides some perspective to some situations that are currently very life-consuming. It would be nice if it only took 3 seconds to live it, and 3 seconds to heal from it.... But I suppose that wouldn't build much 'character.'

She also mentioned that this was in the context of a conversation she was having with a friend about how their 30s are so much better than their 20s. Now, this is something I keep hearing, over and over. And all I can say is THANK GOD. Only 4 1/2 more years...