A marriage or two.

House. Kids.

A couple pets.

A job where you moved up over time, maybe then you didn’t. Maybe you opted out.

From the outside, it looks ordinary. Predictable. Unremarkable.

There comes a moment when life takes a turn we didn’t expect. A moment when certain dreams seem to fade or disappear altogether.

They aren’t gone. They’re just changing shape.

We overlook so much because it doesn’t announce itself as extraordinary.

• The way the sun sparkles on the ripples in a lake.
• The way someone’s eyes light up as they begin to laugh with joy.
• The way a baby peers at you from its stroller as you are walking by with its big, open-hearted glance.
• The sound of the first bird chirping in the morning signals a new day.
• The way the light breaks over the horizon.
• The way the moon looks huge and bright as it rises.
• The way the stars show us their light from a distant past.

So much of life hides behind the label unextraordinary.

Yet, here we are. Existing. Living. Learning. Loving in small, luminous ways we were never taught to celebrate.

Maybe the unextraordinary life isn’t something to escape.

Maybe it’s something to notice.

Something to cherish.