A flashing life

That old saying about when you are on the verge of death your life flashes before your eyes.  Although I am not yet there, but in the process of dying (unless science changes in the next several years), it will be a long slow process.  On Thanksgiving I took out my charm bracelet to wear for the day, to remind me of the life I've lived, good and bad, and think about it all.  The bracelet came from one grandmother and several of the charms from the other.  The dog to show my love of animals.  The schoolhouse representing my love of learning and reading.  The figure skates for all the years I spent as a rink rat.  The piano for the years I spent playing and my love of music.  There is nothing for gymnastics but it was a shorter period of my life, but no less important.  My scales of justice representing my love of law and the practice of it.  The best highs of my life will always be times spent in courtroom battle, the experiences needed so I could get to the win.  My baby boy charm representing my son's birth and the demise of my first marriage, the difficulty in even convincing my ex-husband to purchase the charm for me on mother's day after my son's birth.  A sad time in my life.  A vintage puffy heart from my second husband representing true love, my soul mate, someone who brought joy and laughter back into my life at a time I thought it wasn't possible and perhaps would never find it again.  The Eiffel Tower representing our love of travel and everything French.  Although I dislike flying, it is a necessary evil of modern society to achieve my goal of getting to Europe and other places.  How I wish I was healthy enough to return to China, to see Hong Kong harbor at night again, to see Shanghai, Beijing and more. Now I just focus on making the most of time I have left and traveling when I have the energy to do it.