Putting everything in perspective

Texture by Kim Klassen; wonderful magic scripted
100% screen, 100% soft light, selective masking

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don’t have,
you will never, ever have enough.
~Oprah Winfrey

It’s been a helluva month.

1. The university, in its infinite wisdom, decided if an instructor hasn’t taught in 26 weeks, they need to go through the entire hiring process again. Since my adjunct gig is only from January until May, all my access was suspended until I could be re-hired. Criminal background check…check; application complete…check; present identification in person at the HR office….

2.  ….present identification in person. Who puts an HR department office in a parking garage? Almost impossible to find. Then, I can’t get out of the garage in any efficient manner. And it is past nap time for Twix.

3. The top strand of Christmas lights on my tree is out. Not the entire strand…just the last half of the last stringer. The top of the tree is dark. Not cool.

4. Entrepreneur is diagnosed with kidney cancer…metastasized to other organs.

Number four…making the first three null and void on any scale of importance.

Oh my. Cancer. I can barely say the word. We received the diagnosis shortly after Thanksgiving. Surgery needed to remove the kidney. We’re talking about aggressive treatment options for the other areas.

I’m numb. I’m terrified. And in complete shock. My emotions are reeling. My head is swimming in what ifs. This isn’t happening.

But it is.

My faith will now be tested beyond anything I’ve experienced so far in life.

I look at him….my husband of 34 years….the epitome of good health…on the outside. And I realize that, while there are volumes of things he does that irritate and infuriate me, there is absolutely nothing he has done or will do that I cannot forgive. The thought of living without him isn’t even on my radar. I realize how unappreciative I’ve been in the past. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Memories fly past my eyes and the preciousness of time weighs heavily on my heart.

For better or for worse…in sickness and in health……My priorities have been shifted into perfect vision. And as my head swims, photos are taken, and unmentionable details are finalized…just in case.

As I sat in the surgical waiting room last Friday waiting for news, I’m surrounded by Entrepreneur’s parents, my mom and her husband, JW. And I find it amazing what gifts presents themselves in a crisis. Meals are provided. Dear friends of great faith surround me…physically and in spirit; he’s on prayer chains from coast to coast. The outpouring of care and concern has moved my heart.

Stories of hope are shared.

One diagnosed with cancer that invaded lymph glands. Multiple physicians concur twelve to eighteen months to live. That was 12 years ago.

Another of an unexplained regression of Parkinson’s symptoms.

Two of many stories of hope that have been shared.

Stories of miracles.

I hope and pray we are the recipient of one.

He sends forth His word and heals them
and rescues them from the pit and destruction. ~Psalm 107:20

Linking up with Texture Tuesday and Texture Twist