We were in his truck driving through the Village where we both live.
He looked tired.
I asked him how he was.
He began to talk about his wife battling disease.
Chemotherapy had slowed the progression of the cancer.
Now she faced surgery.
No cure, but hoping for a bit more time.
He stopped his truck and turned in his seat to look at me.
“Life turns on a dime,” he said.
How well I know…both professionally and personally.
One moment we are doing the next thing on our list, moving through the day like there are an endless stream of similar days in front of us. The next moment something happens and we know that the days in front of us will never be the same again. And, we are left to figure out a new way of living in this new reality which we did not ask for and do not want looking back wishing we had paid more attention to the moments that once were, but will never be again.
There are no magic wands.
No going back.
No “do overs.”
Just what now is.
For years I carried a scrap of paper in my wallet with a simple line drawing and these words: “Pilgrim there is no way. You make it by walking.”
So true probably in all moments, but especially true in moments like this.
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