"Look back and smile on perils past."
Sir Walter Scott

All I can say is that some things are easier to smile about than others. Like the time I melted down while trying to cross an ICE cold creek in my bare feet with a backpack on. Quite perilous at the time, but I can smile about it NOW! Or giving birth at home and getting stitched up "au natural". Ouch. But I can definitely smile now. Because, while these things and others may have seemed perilous at the time, they really weren't. My life was never really in question. Now they're over and I survived quite nicely thank you very much.

The peril of my childhood is less easy to muster up a smile for. I think that's because it was more of a true peril. When our lives are truly threatened, I don't think we can ever just smile about. But we can be thankful that we didn't die, whether physically or emotionally, socially, spiritually. And I didn't. I have learned a lot about myself, relationships and life in general as a result, but it really isn't smile-worthy.

Nevertheless, in this life I generally prefer to smile. :)

(Back later with my scrap page...)