Don’t Bet on Tomorrow

This morning they called a last minute staff meeting, which usually means there’s bad news. Sure enough, one of the ladies I work with had a stroke yesterday. She’d been complaining of headaches, went to bed, and never got up. There’s almost no hope, and her husband is now faced with the decision of whether to keep her on life support or to pull the plug.

I’m stunned. The whole thing has been weighing on me like a thick lead ceiling.

I was just writing on how retirement is just a shimmering oasis that always seems on the crest of the next dune as you trudge across the sand. I had no idea I would be proven correct so soon and so tragically. What happened to her retirement plans? How much did she endure, and how much of her life did she put on hold until she could retire? Now the whole retirement scheme is seen for the cruel joke that it is.

The message comes through loud and clear to me. Don’t assume tomorrow is a given. Don’t put off for a single day the life you want to live.