Life is a Curious Thing

Life is a curious thing as Amy Grant wrote in one of her songs. It really is.

I have been dealing with back issues for the past week and a half. I don’t have back issues…

I twisted it getting out of bed and that was that. I’ve been living on ibuprofen for awhile now, trying to minimize the use of my back, which is hard to do considering I have a small cleaning business which requires manual labor. Not often, mind you, but enough to make it a must to have a healthy…everything!

I was talking with a customer today. I don’t usually run into her, although I do a few jobs for her on a weekly basis. She was running late so we chatted a bit while she got her things together to leave.

She has tons of framed photos sitting around in several of the rooms I attend to, and I asked her if she had any grand kids. I was really just making conversation but her reply surprised me. She has two adult children, both married, however, she said she didn’t have any grandchildren and probably never would.

She said her son was scared to death to have kids because his younger sister, her daughter, has a rare disease which has caused kidney problems. She said her daughter has one of her kidneys and one of her husband’s, the daughter’s dad.

Wow!

Life is a curious thing because from the outside looking in, you would think that this couple has it all together. They live a pretty good life in comparison to others I know. They enjoy each other. They own their own business. They own real estate. They travel. They have friends. They are very social and do a lot of fun things with family and friends.

Yet their daughter is on dialysis. She spends a lot of her time in doctors’ offices, yet more time still helping those who are “less fortunate” than she is.

Life is a curious thing.

“Never compare your inside with the outside of others”, is a saying in the rooms of recovery. I’ve heard it before. I get it too. Yet not as much as I got it today.

This beautiful, “lucky” woman that I admire greatly has a daughter with a serious illness and has had it most of her life.

It gave me pause to reflect on the things I have to be grateful for in a whole new way, because today, I am once again reminded that life is a curious thing.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

I’ve had my share of troubles. Let me count the ways.

But today, at this precise moment, I am grateful for the good health of my kids. I am grateful that they are safe and enjoying fulfilling, albeit sometimes mundane, lives.

I am grateful for my family and friends.

I am grateful for life’s experiences even though things haven’t always turned out exactly like I planned.

I am grateful because…

Life is a curious thing.