Life Like a Holiday

After well over a month in the hospital and Canuck Place, Gabrielle is coming home today. I'll share with you that she's been given "palliative" status, which means the medical focus will now be on symptom management, instead of doing everything possible to 'cure' her. The prognosis for the upcoming flu season is not good (it's not good at all, actually), and that's what I'm writing about today:

Who cares!

Like seriously! Who plans a holiday and immediately starts dreading about its end? Who goes to a party, or BBQ, or movie and thinks about how let down they'll be when it's over? Who goes on a hike and thinks about how sad they'll be when they take their last few steps on the trail?

No one thinks thoughts like these! (or at least I hope they don't)

And why should our summer and fall and time with Gabrielle be any different?

Why should your summer be any different?

Why should anyone's anything be any different?

It shouldn't!

Holidays are maybe the only occasions when it's culturally appropriate to proudly announce, "Isn't this fun! Isn't this great!"

Heaven forbid you say such things at work,

Or at home as you empty the dishwasher,

Or to someone you care about over a regular meal in the middle of a regular conversation,

Or to a stranger in a really long post-office line, a stranger who looks to be in good health, with a scowl on her face, standing in a well-lit building with heating, about to hand something over to a person who works in a ridiculously complex system that will guarantee their something will arrive somewhere else in the world for a the price of a few dollars! (like how cool is that) ... how dare we announce, "Isn't this great!"

If we tried to live life a little more like a holiday, I think we would all do a little more living.