Scary

I guess when you get to my age you would expect that health issues would not come as a surprise. In fact, I find the opposite is true. Maybe each day we get by unscathed just strengthens our sense of invulnerability.

That is, of course,until someone close to you has a health scare. A very good friend of mine recently suffered a severe asthma attack and had to be resuscitated and put into an induced coma last week. More than the threat to his physical health (that sense of invulnerability is very strong) I worried about his state of mind. This guy, growing up, was one of the most loving and giving people I knew. His family was an inspiration to me, and I believe that he and his family came in to my life to show me that side of myself, how to give and love unconditionally. Unfortunately, as they grew older, disillusionment and a little bitterness took hold. He still gave with his heart, unquestioningly, but I think he became frustrated when people did not reciprocate.

Skip forward to a month ago. A new job in a caring profession had a new spring in his step. Things were falling into place for him and a conversation I had with him 2 weeks ago had me singing the praises of his new outlook on life.

Then the health scare.

I visited him in hospital yesterday and he is, if possible, even more positive than the last time I saw him. It was like he had accepted that he is loved and cared for. That he has learned that love is not necessarily a "back and forth" thing, that the love he has been giving out has always come back to him, just not always from the direction he expected.

He told me that the doctor said to him that instead of his life beginning at 40, his had very nearly ended. After seeing him yesterday, I choose to believe that his new life has truly started.

Go with it, my brother, you'll never walk alone.