Wet Sidewalks

The other morning I dropped my son off at school [late again].  As we were walking [ok running] into the school my foot slipped a bit on the sidewalk.  The weather was cold and slightly rainy but there wasn't any snow or even ice - well none that I could see.  After entering the building [A.K.A. for rushing into the front doors-not the entrance we usually go through the entrance only the late kids use] I walked [ran] back to my car.  I slipped again [and cursed out loud and then I acted like I did not just slip and kept going probably not the best thing to do in front of a school. And I think I laughed just a little out loud. And maybe I looked behind me sort of confused.  And I guess I can't leave out that I said out loud "wow it's icy out here" and I probably should not forget to say that there was a crossing guard looking at me like "what is her problem?". And I guess I will tell you that I gave him a "yeah so I slipped and cursed and parked in a no parking spot" look and went on my way].  It was icy out there in spite of how it looked!  Ice on the road, ice on the sidewalk.  Not exactly what I expected [even though it is January]. 

After rushing through the rest of my day I was looking forward to walking into my warm and cozy home, having another coffee [I will cut it down from the 8 cups I am up to as soon as I get some more sleep] and making a nice dinner, doing homework with the kids, playing a board game, watching Once Upon A Time with my youngest son and having a quiet night at home.  Things were going just as planned the coffee was brewing, the dinner was started, and homework was put on the table in a very organized fashion [I was right on track].  I called to my youngest son to come and start the work.  After arguing for an extended period of time we started.  We started, we argued, we struggled, he cried.  He ended up in his room on a timeout for 5 minutes, the coffee didn't taste as good afterwards, I over boiled the pasta, my older son was aggravated [what the curse happened to my plans?]

Earlier during the day someone I recently met revealed to me that they received some horrible news this same day from some tests they had done at the doctors.  This test revealed an aggressive and rare form of cancer.  Young-seemingly healthy, great person [why the curse does curse like this happen to good people]?  For the first time in a long time I had no words.  I couldn't come up with anything to say at all, and so that is what I said, "I am sorry I don't know what to say".  I couldn't stop thinking about my lack of ability to respond appropriately to this.  And it bothered me.  All of this bothered me.  What didn't bother me was what this person told me.  Simply stated the response to this life changing news was " I know the diagnosis. I can't change it. I have to focus on what to do next".  The strength, the wisdom!!  I couldn't believe my ears, and my heart hurt with both admiration and sorrow.  I felt so lucky at that moment to have been given such a wonderful gift of learning how to face something like this with that kind of attitude.

While I sat alone for the 5 minutes while my son was in timeout, I couldn't help but to think about the fact that I was mad about over boiled pasta, late dinner, and an 8 year old that didn't want to do homework after 6 hours of school [wow, what the curse is my problem?] I stopped and looked at each of the problems, and I focused on my next move, we ate, we did homework, we played our game, we watched our television show.  It worked. Step by step, it worked.

I guess sometimes in life unexpected and sometimes tragic things may occur in our lives.  Sometimes these things may creep up on us out of the blue, and sometimes they may be very apparent yet just enough that we miss it sort of like those wet sidewalks which turned out to be icy.   I guess sometimes the best way to face the unexpected is to look at what our next move is after the unexpected comes our way.  Once again I was reminded to look at things from another perspective.  Once again I learned a great lesson in life.  I am still very sad over this news and I still can't help but to feel sorrow in my heart. Yet, the next time I have to face some sad news I know I will remember the wise advise of a very brave person.