That's Life

On Saturday December 17^th 2011 I graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in Family & Child Science with a minor in Religion.

As I sat there among the hundreds of graduates I said to my self, “Self, you are ready for anything!” Then I said to Life, “Life, bring it on!!”

The remainder of the day will be shown through a timeline to show you what Life brought my way.

11:30---ceremony ends

12:30---lunch with family and friends

1:30----still having lunch with family and friends

2:30----in the ER with my wife

You might have asked yourself, “What on Earth happened?”

The appropriate answer would be that Life decided to “bring it” that very day.

Apparently, Ashley and all of her coworkers attracted a virus from work last week that hit them hard over the weekend. I don’t know what exactly happened to them but I do know what happened to Ashley. She ended up vomiting just about everything there was to vomit from her system. She became extremely dehydrated, experienced intense abdominal pain and eventually began to hyperventilate. The nurse put it simply, “Her nervous system is going haywire” and that is exactly what was happening. We ended up being in the ER until 10pm that night. It was a terrifying thing not knowing what was wrong with her. The doctor took a blood and urine sample to figure out what was happening. Luckily, it was a virus that already started to die down. After all, she had already cleaned out her system.

Most people will tell you that Life can happen at any moment. I know that to be true because it sure didn’t try giving us a rain check on behalf of our plans for that day. Don't get me wrong, I’m not complaining in any way. I am just relieved that my wife is doing a lot better now. As a matter of fact she has returned to work today and has made a complete recovery.

It’s a sobering thought to realize that sometimes we have no control over what happens to us. It’s during times like these that we are reminded of how frail we are and how much we need one another. In a way, I am glad that Life did not wait until later to do what it did. Yes, it was my graduation day. The day was supposed to be a day full of joy and celebration but it wasn’t—and that’s okay. That’s Life. I’m glad that God allowed the timing of the event to happen when it did because it taught me two valuable lessons.

1.)   Life never takes a holiday.

2.)   Life never considers yours.