There are times in life when we all loose our way a little. Maybe we took a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of nowhere, or maybe we started to like waffles more than pancakes; a crime punishable by permanent, sticky syrup fingers.

I let my happiness become a factor depending only on the mere whim of the fickle world.

Back in the sweltering  heat of early July I was looking for the perfect bikini body and a jock named Bret. Instead I got mud stains called cancer on the white carpet that was my life, and I was left to clean it up. It decided to play nice sometimes and others it snapped at me with every swipe of my mop.

After my dad was diagnosed I started to let my mind slip away into a haze of worst case scenarios and what ifs. I let every word, every glance, every mere movement hit me like a tsunami I believed was threatening to drown me. I took a long five weeks after finding out about dad until I remember experiencing true happiness again.

I was sitting in a Chick-fil-a staring out the long panel of windows as rain poured down when I saw a man pull up to the drive-thru with a huge smile on his face. He laughed at something as he took his food from the hand of the drive-thru operator and drove up next to where I was sitting. He was singing along to the radio while shoving his chicken sandwich in his wide mouth, all with a grin the size of the sun sat on his face.

There was something about the way he chose to be so joyful on a day so bleak that made me smile. An intense happiness filled my chest like never before as I watched him drive away, knowing he was still singing. I think I realized that it doesn’t matter what life gives you, there is still good to be seen, grasped, and enjoyed.

There will always be tough times in life, but if we let that stop us from taking in the good parts we will never live at all.

Sometimes I lose my way, but one thing I know is that I can always find something to smile about, whether it’s the Chick-fil-a man or just a good pancake.