Why Me?
“WHHHYYY?!” I screamed to myself as I realized that I had locked my keys in my car yet once again. It never fails that when I need my day to go smoothly something always jumps in and takes the chance to interfere. Knowing somehow that my day would steer completely off track and be unable to find the correct route again, I continued my day in an angry manner.
This was the way I looked at life about six years ago. When I didn’t understand why something was happening to me, I took it as bad luck. Obviously it was my mistake to leave the keys in my car but for some reason I just couldn’t accept that that is the way life works. Today I realize that people mess up and people make mistakes. However, I believe that whenever something bad happens there is always something good that can come out of it. When one door closes, another opens. And what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. I truly believe with all my heart that EVERYTHING happens for a reason.
My outlook on life and the journey that it takes us through changed quite drastically when I realized just how precious it is. Six years ago my father was diagnosed with what they told us would prove to be a fatal, stage four-brain tumor. The first reaction that came to my mind was, “Why us? We have the perfect family, why is it being destroyed?” It didn’t take long for me to come to grip with the fact that this could be it. This could be the last time that my family would be together. It’s hard to explain the feelings of desperation and emotion that would flow in and out of my mind. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
After the chemo and medication failed to help we turned to faith, hope and prayer. We would not give up without a fight and we would not settle for anything less than everything. Not long after, my father became a cancer survivor. I like to think of him as a miracle. Although some may think that we should have hatred toward what happened to us, I see it as a blessing. There is not one day that I do not thank God for being able to see my fathers handsome smile everyday. But another part of me thanks God for making him sick in the first place. Had my father not gotten as sick as he had, my family and I would not be where we are today. My two beautiful sisters would not be my best friends, and my parents wouldn’t know everything there is to know about my life. But that is the way I like it. I value our love everyday and wouldn’t change a thing.
Everyday a million things have the chance to change our lives. From locking keys inside a car, to losing a loved one, these things leave a marker on our adventure through life. They remind us where we have been, where we are going and what we have been through to get there. So the next time something bad happens and you think it may just be a string of bad luck take a deep breath and realize that this day is going to be what it is going to be. Everything happens for a reason and until that reason becomes apparent, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.