#1401 Ahuva Gamliel (Hollywood, Florida)
& Shawn Snow (Hollywood, Florida)

סיפור הצלחה

Everyone has heard the joke, How do you make G-d laugh? Tell him about your plans! When I was younger I thought I’d be married happily ever after with 4 children by the age of 25. But instead G-d surprised me with an unexpected child at the age of 33 and my perfectionist ideal of life as I wanted it was instantly shattered. But G-d is good and He knew what He was doing. It was a very painful reality for me but G-d knew that this experience was necessary for the evolution and greatest good of my soul. Because I lacked the bird’s eye view of my situation, I was repeatedly -disappointed when nearly a decade of singles parties and networking events turned out to be unfruitful. It wasn’t until I finally surrendered my will to the Creator’s will that I met Shawn. I finally reached a point in my life where I was tired of fighting the hand of cards that I had been dealt. I said to myself, if it’s just going to be me and my daughter from now on, I accept that and I am going to make the most out of it, and I am not going to kvetch about the man that is missing from my life anymore. I’m just going to be happy with what I have. G-d said, “Ok, now you’re ready.” I met Shawn on Saw You At Sinai and he lives only 2 miles away from me. We discovered that we were at the same place at the same time on more than one occasion, but we never met each other. We weren’t ready to back then. They say that the wound is where the light comes in. Shawn and I each had to go through our own trials and fires and heartbreak and pain and disappointment, we had to have our expectations and vessels shattered in order to prepare ourselves for this union. We each had to be humbled in our own way by life not working out the way that we had originally hoped and dreamed. But G-d knew exactly what He was doing. Because if it weren’t for our colored pasts, we wouldn’t have the tools that we need to succeed in building a happy life together. I am Thankful to the Creator for bringing Shawn and his children into my life. I specifically wanted a man who had children my daughter’s age, so that she could have siblings, because I grew up as an only child and I hoped to give my daughter the opportunity to have something special that I didn’t have, a brother and a sister. So even in the darkness and challenges in life, when G-d’s plan is not yet manifest/revealed, we must have gratitude, faith, confidence and perseverance that everything is perfectly imperfect by Divine design. And to remember that everything will be ok in the end and if it is not ok, it’s not the end and even the end is not the end, it is a beginning of something else, something better than we could have imagined or designed for ourselves. Looking forward to celebrating LIFE and LOVE with [Shawn].