How Sweet It Is: It’s Just About… Sophie!

It was her first breath that took mine away, forever – January 9th, 2000.

There are moments, then there are miracles. There is emotion, then there is unconditional love. Sixteen years ago the two became one.
The birth of Sophie Rose Brodinsky. Today that baby turns Sweet 16.

 

For Sophie it’s been 5,840 days on this earth. It’s strange when you look at life as a number because we all know it doesn’t do it any justice, it fails to give proper meaning to any of the moments that make up those days. And there are many… you wish you could find a way to cherish every single one, but life does not afford you that luxury.  There are pictures and videos, though not nearly enough. Times captured like Sophie’s first breath, her first day of school, soccer games, voice recitals, birthdays, vacations, family outings. But there are also the moments which catch you by surprise, the ones you have no idea are coming.

I still remember sitting on our sofa, at the tail end of Sophie’s second birthday party. Everyone had left and we were picking up the remnants of a toddler-fueled toy frenzy, when Sophie  suddenly she walked up to me, threw her arms around me and told me she loved me. In the 5,480 days of her life, it’s the one for which I don’t have a picture, a video or any photographic proof. I have no visual method to relive it, except in my mind. The same mind I need to keep sharp so that memory doesn’t fade into darkness for me over these next 50 years.

“A blog is born. It’s time. No time to wait. In life you should do one of two things: get going or get out. – January 9th, 2013

Thirteen years after Sophie entered this earth I decided to mark that day by giving birth to a blog: It’s Just About… Life & The Sunday Series. Today, Sophie’s Sweet 16 marks the 475th post on this blog. It’s the third anniversary, certainly not as big as the number of days in my daughter’s life, nor as deep as the place she holds in my heart, but for me it is a living, breathing entity and a piece of my own existence and perhaps one day part of my legacy, just like Sophie. It’s all still a work in progress, which is awesome, since every step of the journey is what life is all about. Sophie certainly represents a piece of my existence, as do the words from my mind and my heart which I write here on this blog, creating a tapestry of personal experiences, personal development lessons and sharing the stories of other people’s lives.

So Happy Birthday Sophie, thanks for the inspiration and thanks for being the one person in this world that no matter who I meet, where I go, or who I touch, they can never do the one thing you accomplished by simply taking your first breath, the same breath that took mine away forever. Because of that breath I live the honor of writing the following: I love you, Daddy.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time
Mark
(markbrodinsky@gmail.com)

Mark Brodinsky, Author, Blogger, Speaker, Speech Writer, Emmy Winner

Author: The #1 Amazon Best Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story
(http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Brodinsky/e/B00FI6R3U6)

Huffington Post: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-brodinsky/)

The Profile: (http://www.talkinggood.com/profiles/MarkBrodinsky)

The Podcast: (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sunday-series-courage-inspiration/id1028611459)

USHEALTH Advisors
(http://www.prweb.com/releases/markbrodinsky/072015/prweb12862708.htm)

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