I'm going to make this as not-dramatic as possible. This past year I got the call from a doctor. The one about the test that came back abnormal. Thus started several sad, reflective weeks of tests and appointments. Worse than the call was the panic brought on by too much Googling, and the time spent in waiting rooms. There are a lot of sick people in this world. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with our bodies. Long story short, my time here is as guaranteed as yours. Nothing too horrible... but the darkness of those months has tainted me.
I was also reminded during Unladylike-2012 that there is something worse to contemplate than leaving your kids... having something wrong with a child. Still foggy from those depressing winter months, we moved into spring and had to experience another doctor-related classic: "Take this to the hospital first thing in the morning for the blood work -- it will be faster -- I'll call you by tomorrow afternoon." I looked down at the paperwork the pediatrician handed me, and saw "STAT" written at the top. Laying in bed that night it was surreal as I tried to wrap my brain around the fact that for sure I would be getting a call the next day and the doctor would tell me something about my child...
It turned out okay.
So here we are -- sick to death of 2012, and yet grateful to our core that we get to have it, right?
Considering our own mortality, and the mortality of family did a lot to sway me about this school year. A lot.
My grandpa died last year and it was the first death I've experienced that really broke my heart. I watched my kids with their grandparents this summer and thought: we must make our relationships with them a bigger priority... be that by writing more letters, calling more often, or arranging trips when we can see them. There is only so much time in a day... only so many days in our lives.
Reason number two: to use our time to be with our little family and our extended family, and in so doing square off with the Grim Reaper.
