Day = Difference

This post is going to be therapeutic, so read at your own risk. I have a lot on my mind.

I have been thinking a lot about the difference a day can make. It actually makes me think about my friend Kathy who died last year. When she was diagnosed with cancer (on top of having CF), her Facebook profile had the line (or a very close iteration): "What a difference a day can make." Her life was transformed in a single day -- the day she found out she had leukemia. Her life changed in that very instant. Most change throughout life is gradual and can't be pinpointed to a specific moment. It's like, all of a sudden you wake up one day and realize that a transformation happened so slowly that you don't even recall how you got where you are. Then, there are other changes that happen so instantaneously that you can't possibly process the information as quickly as necessary.

A nurse I knew died last week from stomach cancer. She had no advanced warning, but went to the doctor complaining of stomach pain and found out that a) she had cancer, and b) it had spread to her entire body. She died three weeks later. I find it nearly impossible to grasp the concept that she was in a hospital more days than not, yet was unaware of the cancer.

Moments like these remind me exactly how precious each day is. It's so easy to get lost in the concept of the future -- living for it, preparing for it, dreaming of it. Sometimes we get so focused on the future that we lose sight of today. I realize I'm not making any never-been-heard revelations here, but this has been weighing heavily on my mind and heart over the past few weeks. No, we shouldn't get so caught up in today that we make reckless decisions that jeopardize the future. However, we also shouldn't harp so much on the future that we deprive ourselves of the things that bring us today's happiness.

Each day is meant to be cherished.

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Disclaimer: Blog posts like this annoy me sometimes, but I wrote it for myself. So STEP OFF!