It took one tornado to fully appreciate Mother Nature’s power, one sunset to fully appreciate her beauty, and one solar eclipse to fully appreciate her complexity.

It took one dSLR and one day to learn how to take real photographs.

It took more than twenty years to figure out I didn’t need someone to be happy.

It took ten years with someone to see there are different kinds of happy.

It took the death of that someone to understand that every love lasts forever.

It took one true love to comprehend exquisite pain and sorrowful contentment.

It took waking up beside someone and feeling a profound sense of happiness that they were there to appreciate what it means to truly know.

It took nothing longer than a blink to comprehend that no creature in my care deserves to face death in the cold confines of a veterinary office.

It took until drinking age to face the reality of who I am.

It took one mercy killing to recognize I can’t be the cause of another creature’s death without feeling a part of me die.

It took thousands of books to learn thousands of books don’t tell the whole story.

It took one tale to recognize one is all it takes.

It took most of my life to understand the importance of living my dreams and making reality the existence I wish for.

It took one death to fathom the loss of a single life is a pain that never heals.

It took one true friend to teach me how valuable friends are.

It took a five-year grudge to comprehend that hate will never hurt anyone more than the person who harbors it.

It took repeated betrayals to learn that wise men forgive but only fools forget.

It took innumerable kisses to know that none will ever compare to the first one.

It took losing something I never had to appreciate how much I wanted it.

It took a lifetime to see a lifetime is both not long enough and far too long.  For anything and everything.