The Other Shoe

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I don't know if it is the responsibility of being a parent, or the challenge of being a son, or just the fact that I'm getting older, but it seems that a lot of time is spent worrying about when the other shoe is going to drop.

Take for instance this weekend - I was looking forward to the long weekend so that we could spend some quality time, but happiness turned to sadness - see Jack O'Neill post - and additionally a co-worker and good friend broke the news that he has cancer. I spent the last three days of the weekend, just hoping that the bad news didn't come in three's.

As luck might have it, I shared a couple of beers with some other father's - and I mentioned that a lot of my adult life is spent wondering when the other shoe is going to drop - one of my good friend's explained that it was just life happening around me. Perhaps John Lennon's famous quote sums it all up - life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

Yes, the other shoe does drop from time-to-time. Certainly, we are all judged by the way we handle adversity, because trouble is never too far behind. Yet, there are moments that we can hang onto while we wait for that other shoe - moments like my son rushing to tell me the score of the football game, or watching them eat the turkey drumstick, or laughing and talking with friends as we play cards for three bucks a hand, or seeing brother's and sister's and laughing with them and at them.

My mother's birthday also happened to fall in line during the weekend. I took a lot of photos, and examined them for the happiness in her eyes as all of the grandchildren tore the holy hell out of their home.

Mom wasn't worried about the other shoe dropping - she was smiling through the commotion, secure in her place in life, and happy that we were all around her.

Perhaps security comes with wisdom and wisdom comes with time. At least that's what I'm thinking - I'll just take a deep breath and be ready, I suppose and enjoy the hell out of life in between.

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