The Promise

A year ago tonight, after a family Christmas shopping trip, my then-17-year-old son took me to see The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey. Tonight, we watched it again on DVD so my guys could be up to speed for viewing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Well, I didn’t actually watch the whole thing tonight. I just hung around long enough to hear my favorite piece of dialogue. When Bilbo is trying to decide if he should journey with the dwarves to hunt down their enemy, the dragon Smaug, he questions the wizard Gandalf: “Can you promise me that I will come back?”

Unflinchingly, Gandalf replies, “No ~ and if you do, you will not be the same.” 

That phrase brought me comfort during the first weeks of my cancer journey. No one can promise that I will make it through alive. But I know that, if I do, I will never be the same. And that’s a good thing.