Counting Blessings

Yesterday there was a funeral at my church for a 19 year old girl who died of cancer. I read her obituary in the paper on Wednesday and something tugged at me, but I couldn't figure out if it was just the natural gut-wrenching feeling of reading about death at such or young age, or something else. On Thursday, I was talking to my mom and she said she had to work at the funeral on Friday. She asked I remembered Stephanie. I asked if I should because I felt like I should. Back in October, my mom and I helped with the spa portion of Mending in the Mountains retreat for cancer survivors, sufferers and in between. There was a young lady there and I talked to her at length. She wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher and I shared some of my teaching experiences. She was an amazing young lady. She had very little hair, no eyebrows, and looked run down, but she was so optimistic! It was an amazing experience for me! Well, it was that young lady who had passed away. I looked at her picture again in the paper and then I recognized her. Her smile, mostly. She married her high school sweetheart in December 2008, after being diagnosed in May of 2008. She died February 1, 2009. I cannot imagine the grief her husband in enduring, or the rest of her family. I wish them peace and comfort knowing that Stephanie is pain-free now.

Then, yesterday I was calling on one of my doctor's offices and one of the PAs came out and he looked distraught. He came up to me and said that he just had to tell a 22 year old young man that he has lymphoma. He talked about what an amazing young man he is and how hard it was to tell him. I got teary. Can you imagine being 22 years old and hearing that you've got cancer? I can't imagine it at 31, 45, 56, or 60 for that matter, but 22? Really? Your whole world changes in a heartbeat!

I have so much to be thankful for. My family has some history of heart disease and diabetes, but otherwise we're quite lucky! I thank God everyday for all my blessings! And I pray that He will keep these families in His loving arms and bring them some peace.

I'm counting my blessings again today, and everyday!