In The Blink of an Eye

Seems as though lately I am reminded almost daily at how fragile life is. A recent newspaper report of a person killed while riding in the backseat of a car when a large stone thrown from a commercial lawnmower broke through the windshield striking them in the head and killing them instantly. A young high school graduate from my hometown who was driving to a church basketball game and was hit head on by a man driving on the wrong side of the road, both killed instantly. A very recent obituary of a 9-month old girl who fell from a standing position which caused a brain injury.

In the time it takes to even blink your eyes life can change in ways you would have never imagined. But as parents that have lost children, we understand this all too well. The child I was carrying so happily and carefree one day was being expelled by my very own body the next. My baby girl at 26wks and me looking forward to what the next year would hold for my family with First Halloween and First Christmas which weren't meant to be. Cautiously optimistic one moment and seizing the next. Realizing my fears were coming true and having to remove her breathing tube, and even in that moment not fully grasping the change happening in my life. My life was changed in the blink of an eye because of death but not only my daughter's but my own. I would never be the person I was the week before, the day before, or even the moment before she passed.

I am powerless in these moments of sadness. However I am always hopeful that the next blink of my eye will hold something simply amazing for me.

Change = Different

And some words of wisdom to carry you through (the last two ring true to me) ...

“The key to change is to let go of fear.”

 Rosanne Cash 

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

 Maria Robinson 

“Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.”

Unknown

“Things do not change; we change.”

 Henry David Thoreau

“Change is the only constant”

 Proverb

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”

 William Somerset Maugham

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”

 Nathaniel Branden