Today, at almost exactly the same time, I am sitting in the waiting room with Greg before he undergoes surgery to repair his nose ~ a deviated septum that has affected his breathing for years.
This feels so ironic to me. My dad once asked, when I was visiting him in the hospital, if it was hard for me to be there after all I'd gone through. And I quipped, "No ~ it's just nice to be on this side of the bed!" Today, I get to be there again, caring for my husband as I've been cared for.
A poem has been running through my head ~ a poem that I first heard as a highschooler and then saw on a poster as a young adult. There's quite some controversy about who wrote it, and I believe it's in the public domain: so I'm going to include here the bits that have lodged themselves in my heart.
Don't Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and its turns
As every one of us sometimes learns . . .
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow . . .
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint to the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are ~
You may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit ~
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit!
Press on, my friends! God has a plan for your life ~ what happens today prepares you for what you'll face tomorrow.
