It had been a week of fever, crushing headache, body aches, joint pain, and a mysterious rash when I finally panicked and went to the emergency room for evaluation.  What a bizarre world is the ER.  I saw a man, severely sunburned from head to toe, who had fallen asleep in the sun.  I saw another man pulling teeth out of his mouth, stating that he had fallen down a flight of stairs.  I saw a mother holding a listless child in her arms.

As I lay hooked up to an IV, I thought about all the people who have rested in ER beds, their lives having turned on a dime.  One minute life seemed normal and the next minute they found themselves in a bed being diagnosed with cancer, with kidney stones, with a head injury.

I remember listening to a minister who regularly preached “Live a life worth dying for.”  What I presumed he meant was to live life whole heartedly, with gratitude and grace, so that when it’s over you will have lived thoroughly.  At least that’s how I interpreted his charge.

For me, I was lucky.  I tested positive for Lyme disease . . . an inconvenience, yes, but nothing life threatening (thank heavens for antibiotics).  I think of those whose lives change daily, unexpectedly and I resolve to live on a quarter — just in case someday my life turns on a dime.

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