Courage

For some reason, this word has been popping up in my life lately.  It's not a word I take lightly, so when I see it or feel it, well, it sits with me for a while.

I started off my day at the rink watching our adult skaters perform exhibitions preparing for Adult Nationals.  One woman, Francie, is over seventy, and out there skating to Titanic as if it were the Olympics.  There were many others, that quite frankly, showed more courage in those twenty minutes than I have in the past two years.  As I stood there I realized that I just don't take chances any more, and not really sure I ever have.  There's something about putting yourself out there and taking a chance on something, without one worry about what anyone else would say.

Three hours later I find myself at Sparrow Children's floor visiting Hannah who is battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and I am faced with another form of courage.  She slept most of the time so I was able to talk with her mom who is the definition of courage.  She is positive, full of faith and love, and knowing the whole time that this is the way it's supposed to be.  She knows that Hannah was chosen for this battle for whatever reason, and they have accepted this wholeheartedly.  There were no complaints.  There was no unhappiness.  It was love and gratitude, and I am a better person having been there today.

I would like to be a more courageous person.  I would like to see how different life would be if I took more chances instead of playing it safe.  I would be curious to see what would happen if I just once tried something new.  In the past few weeks I have started doing a spin class that does give me butterflies before I get on the bike, and so I keep going back.

It's not much, but it is a start.  I would like to do more, but baby steps is about all I can do at this point. Who knows ~ maybe this class will get me on a roll (a little bike humor :))