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It All Comes Crashing Down

Remember last week, when all was fair? I was awash in joy, taking pleasure in puncturing my own penchant for creativity through misery. And then, the other shoe dropped.

Two days after that blog entry was posted, my father-in-law collapsed and was rushed to the hospital for an emergency double bypass. My husband and his siblings dropped everything and flew to Florida to be by his side. And I was left wondering, in the words of the great wit Urkel, “Did I do that?”

By being so flippant about happiness, did I bring down doom upon my nearest and dearest? Would the God I worship really bring down the hammer on my carefree naiveté like a celestial game of Whack-A-Mole?

No, of course not. But maybe He was trying to tell me something.

There’s a lesson in this, I’m certain. Maybe something along the lines of truly embracing your blessings as they happen, because just like that (insert sound of snapping fingers), things change. Or “just live, really live every moment and stop analyzing everything to death, for Pete’s sake.” Something like that.

I’m still pondering the lessons to be learned in a reverse of fortune. The important thing is, my father-in-law is doing better. He was, of course, in terrible pain after the surgery, but felt much improved yesterday when the doctors finally removed his drainage tubes. In a few days, he’ll be sent to a nursing home, where, with time and rest, we expect he’ll recuperate. Right now, I’m feeling optimistic.

I just wonder what’s coming next.

 

Only Child

"Help me."
I seem to say that a lot.
You must be tired of my constant pleas.
Yet You remain as close as my shadow
as constant as breathing.
You spoil me with your constancy.
How good of You to favor each one of us
as though we are an only child,
Your ear tuned to the particular pitch
of each of our cries.
Mother, Father, Friend:
Thank You for listening.

-Lori Strawn
 

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