Live each day with courage could mean many things to many different people, but to me, it means to face the future with hope and to never give up. Some individuals believe that the hardest thing to find is hope, while some believe that hope is easy to find and just hard to keep; me, I believe that hope is as easy to find as courage, because to me they are the same thing. After all, you cannot have courage without first having hope, just as you cannot have hope without eventually having courage. While I wish I could say that I have always had this, but if I am being truthful, I’ve only came to this conclusion within the past two months, when my family started falling apart.

This holiday season was one unlike any other, because over Christmas break, my parents separated. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about my parents splitting up, especially when I discovered that my mom had already found and rented a house. But really, who can ever really say how they feel about such things? Especially when human emotions are known to frequently change. However, although I was unaware of my own emotions, I did try to watch how my siblings were reacting to the change. It seemed, at the time, like my three youngest siblings saw the separation as a great new adventure, since they were smiling and laughing in excitement as they packed up and moved. However, my younger sisters seem to have seen it as something they had to work through, and simply did all they could to make the transition easier.

Although I couldn’t really blame them for their actions, after all, I did the same thing. Because even if I didn’t know how I felt about the situation, I knew that I wanted to make it as easy as I could for my parents. So I helped them out as much as I could. I spent more time taking care of my siblings, helping with the cooking, cleaning the house and helping to pack, and I even helped lug all the boxes to the new house. That was right after Christmas and between New Years; that was a month ago. Now, looking back, I can finally understand my emotions. After all, why act sad when you had already mentally prepared yourself for something you knew was coming? I mean, it is obvious when you look back; the signs are all there. How they had been fighting for a while, and how mom never seemed to smile; it’s easy to see now that she had been distancing herself from dad. Still however, it made for an interesting, one of a kind holiday.

Now, my sister and three youngest siblings live in another home, while I remain here to finish out the school year. We still see each other every weekend, and they are only half-an-hours drive away, but the house is so quiet without them around; it seems empty. I will admit though, that I love the silence of an empty house because it gives me time to think and to do things I never really had the time to do before. I am in appreciation of this quiet house at the moment, because I returned from my mother’s home only an hour ago, and as soon as I arrived in my room, I sat down and started writing. At first, it was just a rant, an assortment of random words and phrases meant to help me sort my thoughts, but ultimately leading to a newfound understanding.

It is quite clear really; I don’t see why I didn’t realize it before. To me, “Live Each Day with Courage” doesn’t mean to act like a Gryffindor and rush headlong into danger with nary a thought, or to even go through your days with a smile as if nothing will bring you down. No, it means to have strength during hard times, to never give up, to look towards the future, and to always have hope. Because, without strength, courage is useless; if you give up, courage is meaningless; if you are stuck in the past, your courage will fade; and ultimately, without hope, there is no courage.