Thoughts from Cindy Lou

As I reflect over our trip, my thoughts are pretty simple. The ambulance situation put Beth and I in a moment of decision, and I still find my reflected thoughts the same....I had about 15 seconds in which several things occurred simultaneously. I learned ones life really DOES flash before their eyes. It seemed like pictures clicking through a view master to me. I know sounds funny huh? All of those I love, their faces clicked through my brain, along with hearing Dr. Burton's voice from that morning saying waht a blessing it is to wake up and have another day in front of us. It is SO true! And we are so so blessed to live and breath where we do in the world and have the opportunity to go and put our hands to work doing what we love. It forced me to ask the question...am I really dedicated to the right things in my life? And the answer was yes. We put ourselves at risk because we believe for REAL in what we are called to do. There WAS no choice, but to make every effort we could think of to get what we needed to do what we were there to do! :-)

My other thoughts, which are more personal in nature is that, by the end of the week, more of the team had had an opportunity to become at least somewhat aware of all I have been through this year. While I was just starting to be on the other side of a really awful year, the pain was still pretty evident in me. Two things occurred that had an impact on me. I became quite ill for the first time in my travels with FIP, and was forced to rely on others to care for ME! That is much harder for me than anyone might know. I needed to be put through that exercise. Secondly, and returning my thoughts to the ambulance situation, personally suddenly my year, moved from objects whizzing by on the side of the road of life, to *SNAP* 100% and clearly, into the rear view mirror...the past, history, good bye. The path ahead of me, and what is TRULY important suddenly became crystal clear :-) From there, it was so easy to do everything possible, to do all we could to help each individual patient, then return to share as much impact with family and loved ones as possible.

Cindy Lou