Present

Credit

Usually on Fridays I try to join this community. This time I'm a few days late but I just had to write on this prompt...

All I know is that on Friday I turned 30 and today she’s having radical surgery for breast cancer. And the song about The Circle of Life is true. And one day when I was 24 I woke up and knew this is the way of things. That in this life there’s way more death, loss, sadness, pain and trauma than you’d ever expect.

And right alongside of all that is so much joy and so many reasons to celebrate. Sometimes they're all happening at the same time. Someone’s getting married while someone else is saying goodbye to a spouse. Someone’s longing for a child and someone’s having an abortion. Someone just started a job and someone else just got fired from their job of 30 years.

I’ve never been noble enough to ask for world peace. And the truth is I don’t believe we’ll ever experience true peace on this side of heaven. As I thought about what I’d like for my 30th birthday while she gets ready for surgery, I decided I’d like to be more present. In the time of celebration and the times of mourning.But most of all I’d like to be most present when the lines blur and those times back right up against each other.