13 Years

Thirteen years is a long time.  It's long enough to learn that everyone is flawed and no one is without the need for compassion or empathy.  It's long enough to realize that you've already found forgiveness,  even if you didn't know it happened.

Thirteen years is long enough to suffer a few losses of your own making and learn a thing or two about gray areas outnumbering the black and white ones.  It's long enough to figure out that the past is gone and it costs more energy to worry about it than it is to just do your best to move past it.

Thirteen years is long enough to let old wounds heal and anger dissipate.  It's long enough to be able to see the light in the cracks and the good that materializes through the distraction of the foggy past.  It's long enough to realize it's been a lifetime but that can feel like the blink of an eye.

Thirteen years is long enough to see what is possible instead of what you've created in your own mind.  It's long enough to not care that it's been 13 years.  It's long enough to just enjoy what exists today, despite the road it took to get here.

It's long enough to realize it's been long enough.