What a week.

This was some kind of week/weekend. I haven't had that many things go wrong in one short span of time in a very long time.

Throughout the week my car has been really acting up. Several times my dad came out to check it over and we found that it was leaking somewhat from a hose underneath. Thursday, he plugged it up and it seemed to be doing ok for the time being. Within a day or so however it was leaking again and we decided that when we took Kaitlyn to dance class on Saturday that he'd check it out again. Well, Saturday comes and he takes a look. Turns out the hose is easy enough to fix, but then we have a new problem. Turns out with the water once again flowing freely through the system, a bigger leak was revealed. The main pipe in the water system was so corroded that water was just pouring out. We didn't have the tools to fix the thing so the entire day we spent trying to come up with anything to fix it. Nothing worked, so my wife, kids and I ended up having to spend the night in this low-end motel out in the boonies on the edge of the woods. At one point during the night, I swore I heard "Dueling Banjos". Arlene thinks I'm mistaken, however....

As it turns out my mother in law and father in law came charging to the rescue with his tools and expertise and after another long day on Sunday, finally got it up and running around 6pm. Needless to say I didn't get the sleep I normally need before going back to work on Sunday night at 10pm and I was exhausted all night long. I really don't know how I got through the night....only with God's help.

So just when I thought my life was kinda sucking lately I had a bit of an epiphany last night. As most of you know I work in the Texas Medical Center. Most specifically the MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is the pre-eminent Cancer research hospital in the world at the moment. I was going about my regular business, when a request came over the printer that a particular Medical chart was needed down in Emergency. Nothing strange about that, we get several of those a night, even on my graveyard shift hours. I got the chart and headed down, dropped it off at the nurse's station and began my trip back to the office. As I was getting on the elevator and the doors began to close, someone hit the button and it opened back up. An orderly wheeled in a cancer patient for a trip up to the transfusion unit. As I was standing there I'm looking at this woman, probably in her mid-30s, completely bald from chemotherapy and at a glance I see on her wristband that she has an admittance date of November 13th, 1995. Now what that means exactly is that she's been diagnosed with some form of cancer for seven years. And I started to think....What right do I have to complain about my life? How can I complain about silly things like my car won't start or I have to clean my house or I'm not getting enough sleep? I work in a place where someone dies every single day, through no fault of their own. They were struck with something out of the blue and must rely on medical knowledge and research for their very lives. I live a very fortunate life, with no illnesses, a beautiful wife, two very healthy children, a place to live and plenty to eat. And I have the nerve to complain? It's really obvious that I need to pay more attention to what I have and stop whining about what I don't.

But anyway, I know I usually don't get all philisophical but I think that's a really important thing to think about. People worry way too much. What's important is to make the best of what God gave you and make sure your life isn't in vain.

I'll end this with a line from a song I heard on my way home...

Don't worry about your life...
If you hold it too close, you'll lose it...

Later...