#3 - Everything Happens for a Reason

It's been a whirlwind of a week. So much has happened, I can barely comprehend. But a very busy and blurry week included a couple last minute trips, two unexpected illnesses and NO knee surgery.

Last Saturday morning, my Grandma Helen passed away after a long and painful battle with colon and stomach cancer. We knew her time was coming to an end but it still wasn't easy saying goodbye. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it to her funeral, since my surgery was scheduled for the same day. But the theme of the week seems to be "everything happens for a reason" which leads my to book review #3: Everything Happens For a Reason - Finding the True Meaning of the Events in Our Lives by Mira Kirshenbaum

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Happens-Reason-Finding-Meaning/dp/1400083214/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1OBDM5U9HH7RO&keywords=everything+happens+for+a+reason+book&qid=1551651715&s=gateway&sprefix=everything+happens+%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2

I'm not going to go into as much detail on this one. I highlighted so many passages, there's no way I could cover them all. However, I did gain a lot of insight and comfort from reading this book. Kirshenbaum shares examples from over 30 years of her counseling career and reassures us that the events that shape (and shake up) our lives are trying to teach us something. She boils it down to essentially 10 reasons:

1. To help you feel at home in the world
2. To help you totally accept yourself
3. To show you that you can let go of fear
4. To bring you to the place where you can feel forgiven
5. To help you uncover your true hidden talent
6. To give you what you need to find true love
7. To help you become stronger
8. To help you discover the play in life
9. To show you how to live with a sense of mission
10. To help you become a truly good person

I love that she puts her own personal stories in there as well and how she arrived at the place she did, in terms of why she wrote the book. Her clients truly are her inspiration.

Here's the vulnerable section of this post. The reason I could not have knee surgery this week is because I ended up having an infection in another part of my body, symptoms of which only started showing up the day before surgery was scheduled.  I called my doc right away and she said she would prefer not to operate, as existing infections could easily travel to my knee and cause another infection there. I was a little crushed because I was mentally ready for this to happen. But as soon as I figured out that I wasn't going to have the operation, I called my brother, to see if there was ANY way I could  still make it to my grandma's funeral the next day. He got me on a flight to Michigan that night. For free. (Thank you, American Airlines!) And as I sat there during the service, I could hear my grandma's wise voice in every song that was sung, and every Bible passage that was read. (She had planned these far in advance). I learned while a daughter shared memories, that she, like me, hated small talk and preferred to get to the "deeper conversations." I felt her hugging me during one of the songs when I literally got chills out of the blue.

It was a very emotional day, but if I hadn't been there, I would have missed so much.

And, as it turns out, when I got home I ended up coming down with the worst cold/flu symptoms I've had in a while, which can also lead to infections in the knee. So while I was mentally ready for knee surgery, the timing was just not right last week and I've accepted that it's a good thing it was put off for a bit. I'll get myself healthy and try again in a month. I can't believe I'm actually grateful for an infection and a cold! I got to be where I needed to be.