sucker punch

Do you know what that is?...it's getting hit in the stomach when you aren't expecting it.

Today, while I was running some errands, my thoughts turned to when I first moved to Northern Virginia, in 1977, at the beginning of ninth grade. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, yet it really was an eternity ago for me...I started thinking about my first snowstorms after living in San Antonio, Texas and Honolulu, Hawaii prior to moving here...I remembered the first time we got out of school for a whole week during the President's Day Blizzard in 1978. All my best friend at that time, Kirsten, and I did was play in the snow, sled, eat popcorn, and probably watch "All My Children"....I was reminiscing about eating tomato soup and grilled cheese at her house during that storm...then my thoughts turned to what she was doing today...she had been living in Seattle for the last 10 years or so working as an OB/GYN with her husband who is a yacht broker and their five year old son...this past summer they left their jobs, sold their home, and set sail on their boat for a two year sailing excursion around the world. They started their once in a lifetime, if that, adventure in Newport, Rhode Island and set up a website so that friends and family could follow them on their journey...but I hadn't checked in lately...Note to self: "check Kirsten's website when you get home", I thought. Because I hadn't exchanged emails with her since the beginning of September, I wasn't sure where she was but remembered that they were headed down the east coast to the Bahamas at some point. So I got home from picking up Kyle from school, ate some tomato soup (my memories made me hungry for it) and then checked email...Wow, I had a message from Kirsten...that's so freaky...Wonder if she is in paradise? No, it was actually a message from her husband on her behalf letting us know about the "Cancer Update Site." What, where, who has cancer? At that very moment, my childhoold friend was literally in an operating room in Virginia Beach having cancer removed from her right breast, having her ovaries removed, having a double mastectomy,and finding out her lymph nodes had cancer cells....all in one day. Uh, that is far from paradise. I felt like I had been "sucker punched"....as it turns out, I am sure she did too. She found a lump in her breast at the end of September, and while in Annapolis, she was able to see a doctor, get referrals, biopsies, tests etc through colleagues of hers...the ultimate caregiver who has delivered many babies and held the hands of other women in her position was now in need of care....Wow. It is too close to home. I just kept thinking about God's providence in all of this...she is in Virginia Beach where her sister and father live...not across the country away from family...her son is being well cared for and there are literally hundreds of people praying for her...including this old friend...