I was allowing myself to wallow a bit – my oldest son, now 24 and in grad school broke his nose in water polo practice Thursday night. No health insurance – and I was a bit worried. And, I had a couple of bad stress days this week. But – I am so blessed! I am not happy that it takes seeing my friends misfortunes to remind me of this…

I got a letter yesterday from friends who have a 6 year old with Muscular Dystrophy. I had known thru other sources for nearly a year, but reading the powerful, moving letter from 6 year Voctor’s parents rather overwhelmed me. I’m not “worried” – they have a rough row to hoe, but they find strength in the support of friends and a strong faith in God. But – why must this happen?

It brings to mind another couple who are friends who’s only son is a survivor of menigitis that left him completely deaf at 17 months. I remember his mom telling me that she put a perfectly healthy toddler to bed one night and less than 24 hours later the doctors were telling them that he very well might not survive.

I think of the neighbor, a good friend of my daughter, who lost a 3 year battle with leukemia just short of her 16th birthday.

And all the while I have only had to suffer with overzealous teenaged boys who push the limits of the law and school rules. Oh, and one who has pretty much overcome exercise induced asthma; And yes, my daughter is a magnet for accidents that total cars. I’ve never had to bail one out of jail – despite having the police call in the middle of the night; they’ve all made it to college, despite one who was forbidden on school grounds the last few weeks of his senior year (personally, I think the worse punishment would have been to make him go to class – every class, every day for those weeks.) So – I have done my own sweating over kids.

But I am so blessed – our 3 offspring are very tightknit. They have come past the sqabbles of childhood and seem to be good friends. They are bright, healthy (barring the broken nose) and are looking forward to the future. They have a foundation for building a relationship with God – that, each has to work out for him/herself. And I, myself seem to be becoming a whole person after working through boughts with depression. (should that be “boughts of depression”? sometimes I wonder – depends on how I faring at the time). I sometimes wait on the shoes to start dropping!