Be Happy For This Moment

I’m the world’s worst blogger. I leave with a tease and don’t return. And as I’ve written about previously, I should always write while the thought is fresh in my mind or – poof – it’s gone.

So here’s what I can recall of my feelings. A beautiful young woman is diagnosed with incurable cancer – or at the very least – cancer requiring a three organ transplant. She chose to fight it her own way – a healthy diet and yoga. A year later she is stable. Not cured, but stable. She has embraced her cancer and says that it teaches her every day how to live and love life. She was married recently because, she says, life is terminal for all of us. Mine just might be shorter, she said, but it’s sweet all the same. She feels lucky to have realized that every moment is special. And every moment is your life.

Bells went off in my head on that one. My mantra (I even print it in the byline of my note cards) is, “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

Then there is the PhD professor and father of three who has three to six months to live – pancreatic cancer. He continues his medical treatment and looks perfectly healthy. But when the doctors say three to six months, they qualify that by saying, “only because the three is in there…” He faces the future, what he has of it, stoically and bravely, recording memories and advice for his children. He says, “We all stand on that dartboard of life. It’s not what I would have chosen, but it is what it is.”

It’s not the first time I’ve been touched by stories like this. Who isn’t? Some days it hits me stronger than others, though, and I seemed to be particularly vulnerable lately. Seeing how I believe in signs so much I’m hoping that this isn’t one of those angels whispering in my ear to take better care of myself. Reminding me that this is the only trip I get (at least in this form). To keep that doctor’s appointment I was supposed to have made in August… I guess I need to wait for the brick...

I do believe we are here to teach each other ~ to help each other. I need to practice what I preach. And believe.