*I included this last photo because it's not everyday you see a mail box nicer than your own home.
Are you trying to cram in any last minute plans as the Summer winds down? I definitely don't want to rush things because we've been having such a gorgeous stretch of weather, but I always love it when it is back to school time. Not that I'm in school. It's been a couple of years now since I graduated. And by couple, I mean decades. But I love school supplies. Lined paper, folders, pens, post its, are you kidding me? I'll be elbowing all those moms for 10 cent packages of paper, even though it's just for my own personal "in case I need to make lists" collection or catch up with old pen pals.
But enough of my breezy opener. Life had a few hiccups last week. There was one day in particular last week, which was one of the most stressful I've had in months. My dad had a surgical procedure on his heart called an Ablation and after a day or two at home, had a reaction to the procedure (heart started racing, shortness of breath and gained 11 pounds of water weight in a few short days) and had to be taken to emergency. He was then transported by ambulance to VGH so that they could run dye through his body to verify if there were blockages to his heart. If they found any, they'd have to perform bypass surgery right then and there. While Dad was getting his tests done, Mom had to get her latest CT scan results to see how the cancer was growing. In my Dad's absence, I held her hand and could tell you, I was sick to my stomach waiting for the doctor to come in the room. Suddenly I felt like I had to be the parent, and I was petrified to the core, but I put on a brave face for Mom.
The results: the tumours are still stable so she gets a reprieve from Chemo for a few months. We leaned on one another and cried happy tears. I said, "What do you want to do to celebrate!! I still have babysitting, we can go out!" Her response? "Well, I do need a few things at Costco." And so life goes on.
Then mom's phone rang, dad's scan was clear and they were transporting him back to our local hospital. We all celebrated in dad's hospital room that night and dad said it best, "it's been a really good day for our family." (My hubby also was in another hospital that day, having cysts removed from his head, that proved to be harmless). It was a three hospital day - we were definitely getting our money's worth of BC's medical care that day. During it all, I was thinking, we have all of these days where life just ticks along, and we get comfortable in the daily regimen of work/fitness/chores....but every so often, life throws you these days to challenge all that you know - that rock you to your core - where you're suddenly in the thick of Life, capital L. I was so grateful for the results we received that day, and know I won't always be so lucky. But I choose to stay focussed on the moment I'm in because nobody knows what lies ahead. They say our lives are marked by 10 defining moments where you've learned the most about life (and yourself) through your response to them. And when I say "they say" I may or may not mean Dr. Phil. But I digress.......
Looking back, what would be some of your life defining moments? Are they major events? Are they little events that somehow changed the course of your life? I'd love to ask my friends this question because I'm fascinated by the differences in everyone's lists.
Please feel free to leave comments below if you'd like to share some of your moments.
xoxoxo
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