It was hard to title this post.  I've thought about my life a lot this year as I have experienced health issue after health issue.  From a terrible cold to a four-day stay in the hospital because of Diverticulitis to continued lumbar disc problems, I've often wondered is this what my life is going to be like as I continue to age.  I'll be 62 in September.  I can remember a time when I thought 25 was old.  Of course, there are lots of people who have not lived as long as I have.  My little sister only lived to age 25.  She always worried about getting old.  She will eternally be 25-years old.  She would have been 50 next year were she still alive today.  So, life is different things to different people.  We take things for granted in life.  We all expect to rise up in the morning and begin our daily routine.  But, no one is promised tomorrow.  I don't believe in living life as it were your last on earth.  But, I have discovered that I need to appreciate each day I have now.  There was a time when I did not do that.  In October of 2010, my life nearly ended due to my neglect of a gallbladder that nearly burst.  That was a wake-up call for me.  I pay attention to the signals my body send me now.  My bout with Diverticulitis is a case in point.  My doctor told me in some cases, left untreated, Diverticulitis requires surgery.  It appears (at this time) I won't have to do that.  My back problem is another story.  I may be headed for another back surgery.  Hopefully, that won't be the case.

All this inner reflection is due to someone I met at the hospital during my bout with Diverticulitis.  I was on the floor where people were recovering from surgery of some sort.  It was the second day of my agony with nausea and the medicine was doing little for me.  As I lay in bed, feeling sorry for myself, in comes this young lady who appeared very thin, pale and just barely walking with the help of a walker.  She had one of those skull caps on that people wear when they want to hide their bald heads.  She asked me how I was doing.  I told her I had been in better shape before.  She asked if she could pray for me.  I said, "Of course.  Thank you."  She said her prayers and touched my hand in a comforting manner.  She then asked if I would pray for her sometime if it were appropriate.  I assured her I would and did.  Lydia (which was her name) said goodbye and wished me the best in my life.  I thought about that young lady.  She appeared in very bad health judging from her sunken facial features.  Yet, she still found time to come to my room to comfort me, a total stranger.

I asked the nurse the next morning about Lydia.  She said due to HIPAA,  she could not discuss her condition.  But, she did tell me she was discharged that morning to return home, in New Orleans, for the last time.  The nurse looked at me and I got the meaning.  There was nothing else anyone on earth could do for her.  I thought about that.  I thought about her all morning and even now, I still think about that young lady who came to my room to comfort me.  I think how someone who was dying and had, perhaps, days to live still sought out to comfort someone else in not nearly as bad health as she.  So, what is the meaning to life?  It's people like Lydia who give true meaning to life.  It's people like Lydia who define our purpose, and our being in life itself.  God Bless "Lydia" and everyone like her.