Ahead of the Curve

Today I called a friend who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. She will have surgery on Thursday to remove as much of the tumor as they can. But they know they cannot get it all. She told me the good news is that the tumor is contained in the brain, if you can call that good news. The bad news is they feel certain it will come back. But hopefully the surgery will prolong her life. Three months, six months, maybe even years. Who knows for sure?

What I do know for sure is life can throw us curves. We just never know from day to day what we will be facing next. I can tell you my friend had no idea last Thursday that she would be having brain surgery the next Thursday

A few minutes after having that grueling conversation, a voice message was left on my cell phone giving me the news about another friend who had a heart attack today. She is a 45 year old fun loving gal who is about as full of life as one can get. And one who looks a picture of health. The last word I got today was the doctors were trying to determine if they could do a stent or they would have to do bypass surgery.

I can tell you when my friend was at church on Easter Sunday she did not have on her calendar to be in cardiac intensive care on Tuesday.

The lesson is we just never know what we will be facing from one day to the next. One minute all can seem to be perfect. The next minute the walls can be falling down around us.

Life can definitely throw us some major curves.

Maybe it would be a good idea to stop and smell the roses while your smeller works. If you like to fish, maybe you should make time to wet a hook. Maybe you have a friend you have not visited in a long time. Maybe it would be a good thing to go for a visit or make that call. Or take a trip with your family.

At the very least maybe we should not make mountains out of molehills. Maybe we should be a little more forgiving to folks who don’t do it just right. Maybe we should lighten up a little and spend more time hanging around folks who make us laugh and who love us in spite of ourselves. Maybe we should not take ourselves so seriously.

The curves will continue to come. That is for sure.

If only we could just learn to live ahead of the curve.