"Before” and “after” for me

 was not just before my mother’s illness

 and after her death.

 It was the dividing line

 between seeing the world in black and white,

 and in Technicolor. 

The lights came on, for the darkest possible reason.

And I went back to school and I looked around at all the kids

I knew who found it kind of a drag

and who weren’t sure if they could really hack it

and who thought life was a bummer.

And I knew that I had undergone a sea change.

Because I was never again going to be able to see life

as anything except a great gift.

- Anna Quindlen -