Strength

My friend Brett Jones like to say that "Strength is a choice." I think that he is absolutely right. Strength is a choice, but this applies to more than just physical strength. My family participated in a Race for the Cure walk today. We did this because my mother-in-law has breast cancer.

Well, she did have it; 23 years ago. She survived, then she got it again; 3 years ago. She is a tough lady, or stubborn. I know she is stronger than I am. If I get an ache, it consumes my every thought. I can't imagine what it must be like to have something as relentless as cancer. It doesn't care who you are, or who your family is. It has no heart. It just wants to destroy you.

But, Kat, my mother-in-law, doesn't care who cancer is either. She fights back. She chooses to live life. It's amazing to witness someone so courageous and full of life when "life" is being turned upside down. I'm glad she fights. She is the peanut butter in our family of a sandwich. She holds everything together. Her daughter (my wife) loves her, my children adore her, I can't help but admire her. She is the embodyment of strength.

I am here to tell you bad things do happen to good people. Things that make the stuff I worry about from day to day seem so stupid. Some of us WORRY about storms, viruses, bacteria, bills, the price of gas, the price of food, American Idol, getting laid off, or whatever. Many of us never really have a true tornado rip through our lives. What I've learned from Kat is that it is not the tornado (cancer) that defines your life, it's how you choose to live after the tornado hits. She chooses to fight. And because she fights, our lives are blessed. I HATE her cancer, but I LOVE how she lives.