The Small Stuff

"What do you think it is?" He asked me as I felt his belly in the Emergency Dept. He was between the ages of 8-12.

"I don't know." I told him. He was too young, well maybe he wasn't too young to comprehend that what I felt inside was sheer terror.

"It doesn't hurt." He said. Darn, I thought. It would have been better if it did. Becasue what I suspected that mass in his belly was.... it just might be.

Later on the radiologist read it as a type of lymphoma, although they truly won't know until the results of a biopsy came back. That takes a few days.

"I am scared." He said to me later. "I have never had surgery."

"I haven't either." I told him, "But I can tell you what I know." He and I proceeded to talk about it, his Mom and Dad held him, stayed strong, I knew they were scared too and as we looked at one another we were all holding back tears.

Yeah, I cried.

When I stepped out of the room one of the residents was complaining "This day never ends." He said. I looked at him and I thought to myself.... at least you are not wondering if you will live or die.

Throughout the evening I watched them through the window of their room, body language says alot. I was grateful that he was loved.

Stories like this are powerful for all of us. They make us take a step back and look at our lives a little differently.

How lucky were we that our son could have open heart bypass surgery, and we knew it would be a done deal. It's something we won't have to worry about again.

So take a look around. Take a deep breath. Things like this help you to look at the world a little kinder. Realize that the small things we worry about.... well we can be glad they are small.