A phone call that changes everything

"Yoga Girl Sitting", 5x7, ink & watercolor, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

Did you ever get one of those phone calls, the call that changes your perspective on life, that shifts everything, the punch to the stomach, the one that yanks the rug right out from under you?

The kind of call that when you see caller ID you hesitate a moment before answering because they never call from work/at work/on your cell/at this time... You know the one. You pick up the phone and sub-consciously hold your breath. But they sound so breezy and matter of fact. The circumstances are anything but, so you ask, "what's up?"

Then you get the news. It's not your news but it's them, so it changes everything. From that moment on everything is different because of who it is. The roar in your head quiets just enough to carry on the conversation. This is real and raw and happening. You want to be supportive, helpful, someone they can lean on. Together you talk, you cry, you hope, you pray, you laugh - you are there for them. And you will continue to be there as they will need you and they move through the maze of the unknown and the unimaginable.

Afterwards you sit drained, shocked, trying to absorb it, your thoughts a disorganized mess. You will get yourself together before you speak next. They will need your love, your support, your thoughtfulness, your strength, your prayers AND your hope.

In the meantime the world has just shifted. Nothing feels the quite the same. And you know now that you will keep up with those seemingly pesky medical tests - the ones we all need to do, the ones that are easy to postpone, the ones that save lives. And, you will continue to make healthy food choices, exercise, take care of yourself so you can feel some sense of control.

You will wake up each morning for the foreseeable future with them as your first thought. And you will be grateful they are part of your life. You will feel gratitude for your family, your friends, and all the little things in your life. For you and your loved one you will focus on hope and healing and light. Hope and healing and love. And you will pray.