Last year, a couple of days after I broke my hip, I was lying in my hospital bed on the orthopedics ward from hell, utterly stunned at my predicament. I could not believe I had broken my hip (and so totally at that) only a mere 7 or 8 months after I had started walking again. I was really freaked out about how this could happen but mostly about not knowing what was in store for me.
So being the closet optimist that I am, I tried to think of positive things to come away with from this whole experience. And damn it, I actually succeeded in coming up with 3 or 4 positive outcomes. Not that I am especially better than anyone else at looking on the bright side but there are things that happen out of nowhere that just have such an impact, they are life-changing really. Sometimes they are small things, tiny moments of joy or understanding or despair. Sometimes, they are big things, like breaking a hip. But whatever they turn out to be, they really do have the power to put a lot of things into perspective. For a brief moment, you can see clearly and the important things are revealed.