When Life Knocks You Sideways
A PERSONAL PONDERING
The past few months have brought more twists and turns than I could ever have imagined. Life with my two gorgeous, high-needs boys is always full of energy and extra attention, but recently it feels as though every time I’ve caught my breath, something else has landed.
My husband had been unwell for a while. True to his “strong, silent type” nature, he carried on without complaint until the day he could no longer ignore it. Within days of finally admitting something was wrong, he was lying on an operating table having open-heart surgery.
You’d think that would have been enough drama for one season of life. But while he was still in the fragile stage of recovery, the unthinkable happened. In the car park at our local shopping centre, while getting into his car, he was struck from behind without warning. The thief knocked him to the ground, stomped on his head—breaking teeth, fracturing his skull—before stealing his car and his gold jewellery.
When the phone call came, my mind did what minds often do in moments of shock: it raced to the strangest places. After the immediate fear—“Is he alive, is he going to be okay?”—my next thought surprised even me: did they take his wedding ring? Odd, perhaps, but that ring was made from my father’s wedding band. In that brutal attack, I could have lost not only my husband, but also a priceless piece of my past and family history.
Since then, I’ve found myself slipping into reflection more than usual. Normally, life keeps me too busy to sit with thoughts like these. I’ve never been religious. As a child I sometimes tagged along to Sunday school with a neighbour, picking up just enough of the stories to understand where many of our traditions come from.
Somehow, I stumbled across a piece of poetry that stopped me in my tracks. Poetry has never been my thing—I’ll happily enjoy a cheeky limerick or the wit of Banjo Paterson, but most of the time it washes over me. I just don’t get it. This one was different. Hearing it read aloud by the author, I felt as though it was speaking directly to me. Why, I’m not exactly sure. Maybe it’s because of everything that’s happened recently, or maybe because sometimes words find you exactly when you need them. Whether it still resonates with me in the future is yet to be seen.
Either way, it touched me, and I wanted to share it. You’ll find the video below. 👇