DON’T TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED

Yesterday I woke up and went on a bike ride.  I had the normal morning minor aches and pains that everybody has when they get out of bed.  I had a crick in my neck from sleeping and my legs were a little tight.  No biggie.  I rode about 25 miles before jumping in my car and driving 3 hours to New York.  I was headed there for a quick 24 hour trip to visit a good friend.

A couple days earlier I had gotten a call that my friend Leah was going back into the hospital for a month of chemo.  She was checking-in in 4 days.  Leah was diagnosed with leukemia over a year ago and had spent several months in the hospital enduring many months of chemo.  She was feeling great and then boom out of nowhere the cancer came back.  Now she has to stop her life entirely and do whatever treatments her doctors find necessary.  That sucks.

My friend Leah is an incredible person that I admire greatly.  She is an amazing playwright, teacher and friend.  We have collaborated on many projects and I have been lucky enough to act in many of her works in NYC, LA, SF and Chicago.  As an artist there is no one that I would rather work with than Leah.  On top of being the coolest chic ever she is by far one of my favorite people to shop and eat with.  She understands and is able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.  She takes nothing for granted.   

When I heard Leah was sick again I knew I needed to go to NYC and hang out (ie. shop and eat) with her for a day.  We hit several 99 cent stores and ate anything that didn't move.  We ate the freshest donuts ever at the Greek diner, had spinach and feta wrapped in phyllo dough at the Armanian bakery and then chicken enchiladas served with a mole sauce at the Mexican restaurant.  Can you say stuffed pig?  For our goodbye breakfast we ate at the New Post Coffee Shop that served not only American breakfast but Mexican and Irish breakfast as well.  As our time together progressed it seemed like everywhere Leah and I went there was 80’s music playing and we kept hearing Journey.  Maybe someone somewhere was trying to give us a subliminal message.  Don’t stop believing?  Hold on to that feeling?  Maybe. 

During  my ride back to Maryland Journey came on the radio.  Strange, huh?  At that moment I thought to myself, I will never ever take anything for granted because at any second everything we have can be taken away from us in a flash.  Waking up, hugging your children, holding hands, eating a meal, taking a walk, riding a bike…don’t take any of it for granted.  You only get one chance at this life.

Posted by Susan on October 4, 2007 in Woman on the Rag | Permalink | Comments (1)

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