Some reflection...

on Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I went to visit some of my college friends in NYC this past weekend. We try to do this every few months. I love going and I love getting together with everyone again but one of our friends was missing. While she is not one of my best friends like the other ladies, she is one I met during my last year of college and had a shared social group. I knew she wasn't coming because I got a message from her two days before our outing. Through the glorious world of Facebook I could gather that she had been in the hospital at one point during the week but there was no mention of how long she was at the hospital, if she was admitted or if she simply wasn't coming due to a sprained ankle.

As we are women (and gossip is in our nature), the first thing I did when I saw one of ladies in our group was to ask about the "missing one". She had no idea. This got us both to wondering how much we all knew about why she didn't come. We asked the next friend that showed up and was relieved to find out she was all knowing or at least partly knowing. We then got almost the most devastating news I've ever heard. She had a stroke. "A stroke?" we asked baffled and yes we had heard correctly. She had no other information to offer to us. We all stood there for a minute trying to process the information we were just handed. Again, I asked, "A stroke? She's only 21." Again, I was told, "Yes, a stroke. They can happen at any age." At this time, we still do not have any more information other than she's still in the hospital.

Since finding out this news, I have been questioning a lot more things in my life. It makes you realized that life can change in an instant. It made me want to spend as much time with my family as possible because you never know when they'll be gone.

-M

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