Color Outside the Lines

"If we are perfect our life is a blank and boring as a sheet of white paper.

I would rather you live a life that is paper torn at the edges,

 has cross outs and new beginnings ( in pen), 

color outside of any line.  

Because then I would know that you have truly lived and not merely existed."

Mrs. Francis May Burke advice to me after my brother passed away in a car accident. 
Just about the same time that my father didn't hide the fact that he preferred sleeping at the next door neighbor's home, instead of with his grieving wife & lonely daughter.
 I was seeing Francis,our school social worker, because I was, as a dramatic teenage girl, frustrated with my life that was not perfect.

Thank you, Francis.   

Many years later, aren't we all happy that we battled through the imperfection & still do on a daily basis.

Watching people end their "not so perfect lives" because they see only black and white lines of what defines perfect instead of relishing in the beauty of color...inside and  outside of the lines; it is so sad.
I wish I could tell every teen out there the same thing Francis May told me.....Live LIFE, do not just exist. 

I have added the following for my own daughters to think about:

"Because then I would know that you have truly lived and not merely existed....  
The piece of paper will turn into a beautiful piece of art at the end of time."

I have found joy and peace in my being Not Perfect, Only Human.