We Were Just Lucky

That's really all there is to it.  I don't much think about luck, as I don't find it particularly helpful.  However, it's about the best explanation I can think of for why we made it through just fine.  The idea that we have some special worthiness or mission to fulfill just seems vile to me, as if others are lacking.  Maybe you just call that survivor's guilt.  I don't know.  I've just found myself thinking about this randomly over the past year.

We took a trip to Texas in February last year to see the daughter and son-in-law.  It was our Christmas present from them.  It is something else to receive a gift from your kids you could not purchase for yourself or for them, but that's not for today.  I remember the concerns I had as we got ready to go.  I was packing a bit differently.  As usual, I had concerns about Bruce's health, but now with the added unknown swirling about.  I wondered whether the trip would be canceled.  I wondered whether we should cancel it.  I wondered whether we would be able to come home.  Some cruise ship passengers had been brought to an Air Force base near them for quarantine.  I was glad that the daughter's job had changed and she was no longer working on that base. 

It's become a bit of a traveling tradition to pick up a few reusable shopping bags local to the area we are visiting

We had a good visit, and parting was sad.  We wondered when we would see one another again, but we couldn't bring ourselves to say those words, whether we were hugging one another for the last time.  We crossed our fingers and tried not to worry as we made our way back home.  You could see it with other passengers, too, with every cough and sniffle ratcheting up the tension.  

Once home, we increased our efforts to prepare and took further precautions.  Bruce was staying home from most errands.  Soon, even my younger brother (who generally puts forth the view that most people's worrying is worthless and that they are overreacting) was checking to see if we were going to stay home all the time.  We had two last nerve-wracking errands to tend to after that call before we did so.          

The more I learned, the more that was revealed, I see how lucky we have been.  Well, if luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, we're doing our best to stay prepared, and, well, this is a heck of an opportunity, eh?  

Now, here we are a year out, and it all just hits over and over again for us.  We've had some extra-for-our-area winter weather, but we avoided much worse.  My heart goes out to everyone in Texas.  Here we are, just watching horrible suffering and no way to stop it.  All I can do is add my few dollars to those of others and keep thinking warm thoughts and praying.