Current Stage of Life

What makes you…well, you?

As grown-ups, we wear many hats.

Son. Daughter. Mother. Father. Sibling. Auntie. Uncle. Grandchild. Niece. Nephew. Grandparent. Friend. Colleague. Manager. Boss. Business owner. Cattle farmer. The list goes on forever.

The crux of who we are…..many different roles sum up what or who we are as a whole.

Recently, a number called my phone, a number I recognized …..family doctor. Wondering why she was calling, I answered with some concern. The number was actually the ER department calling to ask my permission to treat my son who had come in off the job site with a back issue. Immediately, concern escalated into a near-panic moment for me. To make matters worse, it happened to be the same son who hit the guard rail while driving to work one morning!

These are not phone calls I enjoy getting. In fact, I downright hate these phone calls!

For years, whenever I worried about getting ‘the’ phone call about my two older children who lived with their dad. The phone call that brings many tears and shattered hearts. The phone to tell me one of them had been mortally/fatally wounded somehow.

Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way that those instances are not made by phone call, but by a law enforcement visit. When my son passed away 4 years ago, the cops didn’t call me, his dad didn’t call me, his brother or grandmother or anyone else never called. Law enforcement knocked on my door to inform me.

Death notification is made to the surviving person in person rather than by phone. Knowing this has helped only a small fraction. Phone calls such as the one I received recently from the ER department and the one I received from my son last week still turn me sideways.

As I’ve said and will continue to say, it only takes a second for life to end…one single second and our lives can change dramatically. Life is fragile, but life is also meant to be lived.

The question: how do we live without living in a bubble?

Find your reason to smile & keep smiling
~ Shannon ~