Unexpected Gifts

Thursday of last week was a particularly difficult day. It was what I call a "three-fer". I had committed to too much on my schedule, I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be and it was a 200 mile day driving myself all over the state. So you know what happens, I don't sleep the night before, fretting that I am not ready for all of it, having those repeating comments in my head which alternate between why didn't I prepare more? And you are a loser for not being at the top of your game. Neither thoughts are helpful in getting the sleep I need for what will end up being a 15 hour work day.

So, I get through my first meeting. Gave my presentation and hit it out of the park. Late to the next conference call and had to leave early. I didn't really fulfill my duty as I should have on the call but was able to skate.

Jumped in the car, late, to drive 51 miles and needed to arrive in 57 minutes. You are getting the picture right? Get to location for the speech that I was still changing the slides during the previous conference call. Speech is to 100 really smart people, on the future of health care in NJ.

And it happens.

I get my cadence. I never played team sports because I was the nerd, but I imagine that is what the sensation is like - when you just know there is nothing that is going to slow you down. It was a home run.

At the end of the speech, a woman was waiting to see me. She said " I heard you give a speech in 2004 with similar themes, including about knowing how to define the end of life,” the woman said. "Within 6 months of you giving that speech, my 88 year old mother entered the hospital and the doctors started talking about opening her chest for cardiac surgery and that she would be able to survive on a vent I heard your voice. You said – ‘you need to love them enough to celebrate their lives instead of fighting their deaths.’ She died peacefully the next day and I wouldn't have done that if I hadn’t heard you speak."

There is a reason we are sent on certain days to do certain things - even when we don't know it at the time. My guess is that this has happened to you before - a gift that comes when you need it the most and expect it the least.

Do you have any similar stories?