Number One

I have a friend. She has a daughter. She is also my friend. And she too has a daughter and she is my friend.    "Number Three" recently walked away from a potentially disastrous event. There is no need to over-dramatize this event. She and another person walked away from it. For this I am very thankful. These things do happen in our lives. We can plan and plan but the unexpected is always around the corner. There is no need to fear it or attempt to avoid it. There are some things we cannot control. My close friends will be laughing that I could actually write that line much less accept it. Like many others, I waste time worrying about things that I simply cannot control. As a human, I do not like to see other people hurt. Diseases and accidents and addictions and crimes and weather events are just a few of the things I would like to control. We can watch television shows about characters who know tomorrow's headlines and thus can prevent disasters. We can listen to "The Dance" lyrics and wonder what would have happened if only assassinations could have been stopped. But we do not know and so we are left to make the most of every day in the most productive positive ways that we can. Saying I love you and thank you often is a way to start. If we disagree with other people's choices then we can react with something other than anger. Perhaps we do not understand what is different or unknown to us. Making that phone call or delivering that casserole are other gestures that we many times consider but never complete. We continually have these wake-up calls telling us to appreciate what we do have instead of worrying about what we do not have. We need to realize what we do have. I am repeating this in hopes that it will sink in. As far as we know, we have tomorrow. If you open your eyes in the morning, you made it. You have to lighten up. Hug people. Laugh. Give. Hold a door open. Buy a grande latte with extra foam and a cherry on top for a stranger. In the spirit of full disclosure, I believe in Shirley MacLaine and I believe in angels. Also, I was never very good at math. I said at the beginning that I had three friends in this story. I meant four. So change number one to two,two to three and three to four. So number four walked away. And I have every belief that Number One who is an angel... was there to catch number three and gently send her on her way.