Break The Chain
In the summer of 2002, my cousin was suddenly diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. She told us about it in late spring, but we didn’t realize just how aggressive it was until it was too late.
I had planned on going back to visit her again around six weeks later, but by the time I was able to get up there, she was already in hospice, and my Aunt and I sat with her for the last couple of days of her life, and through her passing.
This small piece was written at the hospice where we stayed with my cousin.
Enlightenment. A light bulb moment. It’s that point in time when you say “Wow! How did I ever miss that?” A moment of resolve, the point where you think for one moment you’ve actually glimpsed reality with a perspective that shows the real picture, not just your own pinhole view of it.
I guess part of what makes those moments so surprising is that dawning realization that there’s more to see.
I stared at my reflection in the glass. The beginning lines of time were showing in my face. I reflected with self pity all my failures, and my problems. The things I wanted to do in life weighed against the realities of what I had allowed my life to become.
Then my gaze shifted slightly, and the picture before me opened up. It wasn’t a mirror, it was a picture window on Lake Erie. I was so busy looking at myself, that for a moment I had completely missed the bigger picture.
That’s the first chain to break. A shift in focus from looking at myself so much that I miss the beauty right in front of my eyes.