Today, a good friend texted me that her mother had died suddenly overnight. I also talked with a friend who had recently talked with a mutual friend and learned that she divorced after 10 years of domestic abuse. I was left feeling so sad for these friends, but also so incredibly grateful for my own life and my people.
Last week, a colleague of mine and I were discussing a student who had a stroke out of nowhere (perfectly healthy guy in his mid-20s), and as my eyes got teary and I struggled to make sense of the situation, she said, “It’s a reminder, isn’t it. All the stuff of life, all the commitments and all our successes… it’s just icing on the cake of simply being alive.”
She’s right, of course. How lucky we are simply to be here. I’m eternally amazed that my children are here–that they’re alive, that they are so smart, that they have all their faculties. I’m amazed that I wake up breathing each day, and that I’ve met a person I love with my whole entire being.
How lucky we are to be here. All the rest is just icing in the cake.
Day 14.
I Quit: Giving up Bulimia 