When I was a teenager, a chatty neighbor rattled off advice and words of wisdom so fast my head spun. But this one I got:

"These are the best years of your life. Enjoy them now."

Uggh.

Mom was critically ill, there was domestic trouble everywhere I looked, and, on a lighter note, I lacked confidence and had no direction.

What if the neighbor, who peppered her speech with deep sighs was right?

About three years later, my best friend's father said: "Marg, life only gets better once you're in your twenties. Life begins to make more sense."

That is a moonitude.

Moonitude: an inspiration, a shift in thinking that permits the light of hope to enter. It is the magic wrought through a new approach, the kindness of a friend or an insight derived from something that we see, read or experience. -- Margaret's unofficial dictionary