Be Grateful For Today

So I went to the Hematologist (Hema what? :) to get my blood checked. My every 6 month checkup now, whoo hoo! Once again, I was the youngest in the waiting room.  There was a family there with the matriarch of the family who had clearly undergone some kind of trauma...stroke or something. I was trying hard not to look but couldn't help but observe her movements. She was trying to unwrap a piece of candy but was having some difficulty with her left arm and hand. Her family didn't help her. They just watched.

At first, I didn't understand this and got kind of annoyed that they weren't helping her with her candy situation but after about 2 minutes, she was successful and got it out of its wrapper and into her mouth with her right hand. Her family members kind of looked at each other. I guess they wanted her to do it herself to get her used to not having her left hand/arm as strong as her right. Of course, I'm just speculating but it's what I saw.  She kind of reminded me of myself when I was trying to get the strength back into my right arm. It was very humbling.

I got my blood taken in the same small room I always do and this time I had some company, an elderly man who was quite talkative. He complimented me on my hair and then started cracking jokes. We laughed as both of us were in the chairs for some time since the vampires were taking several vials of blood. He then broke out into what was wrong with him...The list kind of floored me. Since he was in such good spirits, I kind of didn't believe him. Pancreatic Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Skin Cancer and finally to top it all off, Shingles. Whoa. He joked around a bit more with me and told me to have a good summer. I automatically said "You too" not realizing he may not have another summer.

Yes, this is awful but reminded me still that you should be grateful for today. This dude was a walking dead body and he didn't let it get him down. Bless him. You have today! Small victories!