Life? She's one tough teacher.

What is it about life that just as you're settling down and, even though you know you're not supposed to, in some dark corner of your mind, you go-"I could learn to live like this, dude!"-and just as that though worms its way into your head, she gets up and BAM! There lands one HARD kick on your butt...and the wind blows, and you realize [way too late] that all the houses you ever built were beautiful, complicated monuments made purely of cards... And then you're in the trough all over again...struggling to stay afloat in that stormy, lonely ocean...wondering when, WHEN will you ever find an anchor...a boat to rescue you...you hear the faint laughter as, up there, He looks down upon you, shaking his head at how foolish you are, that you can't see what's right in front of you...and He smiles mercifully and let's you learn your lesson, for your own good. But you hate it. And then you rise up on the next wave, and there you go again, forgetting everything you've learnt so far, all your determination, everything...and He laughs all the harder. Because he can see what you can't: Life, waiting just around the corner, foot raised for the next Kick...

"This, too, shall pass."