Stroke Of Luck?

Five years ago last week, I got the call no one wants. The phone rang and I forwarded the call. It rang again and I forwarded the call. It rang a third time and I forwarded the call. I was busy and on a meeting. I was an hour away from home and I finally answered on the last call. Slurred speech. “I’m having a stroke.”

Those hours that were really minutes ticked very slowly as I drove safely but well over the speed limit to get to the hospital. Everything flashed through my mind. Death. Disability. Anger. Fear.

Gratefulness was not in my thoughts or my vocabulary at all at that moment. I was thinking life insurance and telling kids that their father was very ill. A ten day stay in the hospital and months of rehab. No obvious remnants of a stroke. Luck. Gratefulness.

So why do I allude to this time now? It is because my perspectives about my hips are always framed by my experiences and a sincere belief that, “It could always be worse.” This scary time allowed me to see how strong I am and how there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes the light is not exactly the brightness or the color that I expected, but it is still light that can provide hope. Maybe the light will illuminate another path for you that you never thought existed. Maybe the light will illuminate a different perspective where you can see through the pain into hope! Find your perspectives that will illuminate your hip hope and allow you to realize that sometimes that stroke of “bad” luck can actually be a blessing in disguise where you ask, “What am I supposed to learn?” and the answer is, “You are braver than you believe [and] stronger than you seem!”