Happy Going Away...Right? Maybe not!

Yesterday I had my first going away party. The girls and 1 "male nurse" as my grandmother calls them (I just say nurse, but that is neither here nor there.) pooled together and bought pizza and salad for me. One girl, from Boston, bought me an ice cream cake. Yum! I think nurses have the most fattening, filling, calorie filled parties.
So the excitement builds as we pull out the cake since we are all caught up on charting and patient care, and everyone is drooling and the cake is set on the table, and we all lean over to see it as we open the box.
Now, I didn't expect writing, but I felt honored to see that she had, indeed, gotten one with the writing.
In beautiful, hand written red icing was "Happy Birthday!"
It's the thought that counts. It's still good to be me, and the cake was awesome!

Sometimes God is sneaky in His blessings. Today, going to work, I took a different route to work, and then stopped for just a few minutes to pick up some chips and salsa for the first of 3 going away parties for me. It just took a few minutes, and I was back on the freeway in no time.
Minutes into the drive, up ahead I noticed flashing lights, and as I approached I could more clearly see the 6 police cars, the firetruck, the 2 ambulances, the 12 or so firefightes/EMT's, and the upside down car. 2 other cars, which I assume were witnesses to the crash, were pulled over just beyond that, and the drivers were walking briskly to the scene.
I passed by, and then, knowing about how far away that particular firehouse is, knowing about how long it takes emergency response to show up, I realized that the crash could very well have been me. I would have been me. It could have been me.
Cancer is hard to work with, but at least these patients have time. They can say their goodbyes. It's like a snooze button on an alarm clock of expiration.
I don't think the driver of the upside down car was alive. Just a hunch.
It is good to be me. I was blessed in a profound way today. I didn't die.