Hope

If you ever find yourself with a little free time to sit and day dream, think about hope.  It's just another word, so easy to toss out there.  I hope it doesn't rain,  I hope I get the promotion, I hope the kids take a nap

We probably say that word a dozen times a day or more!

Lately, I've been taking care of a lady who was diagnosed with congestive heart failure 6 months ago.  The doctor said she could plan on 6-12 months of life left.  I wish doctors wouldn't say that, it just sucks the hope out of everything, not to mention life!  She isn't the first dying person I have taken care of and with each one, there seems to be this amazing outlook of hope they adopt.  Not the trivial kind of hope we think nothing of, but a real hope that things are going to get better.

This week, my friend has really struggled with her disease.  She fell on Monday in the early morning hours and it took her from 4 in the morning until 9 am to squirm her way over to the phone which was only 3-4 feet away. Each of her legs weighs over 25 lbs.  The skin is stretched so tight that blood and lymphatic fluid just continually leaks and runs down her legs.  It's sad to see but is she happy.  She is happy and making jokes all the day long.  Besides that, she has hope.

Her favorite thing to do is take long drives and go to fast food restaurants.  If you ask me, her driving days are over given the fact that she can barely lift up her legs to move.  Still, she is hopeful that she will drive soon and even walk.  So much hope.  It's the hope that convinces her that she will 'beat' this disease and by next year she will be off traveling to her favorite places.

At first, I wanted to ask her if she really believed that but then I thought about my own life.  It's hope that gets us through the hard times.  I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't have hope.  Sometimes, it closely resembles denial, which I am the queen of but really, it's hope.

Hope is something I think you could study and learn and even live and still never really get to the depths of it.  I really hope my friend never loses hope that tomorrow will be better than today.