Sometimes we start out on an idea of something thinking

“Ok this will go this way”

That little voice in our heads that gets over excited planning things, that often are far from practical in the real world.

Then our heath, life, and whatever other crazy things - like 2020 - happen and we have to adapt.

We have to change.

Who likes to change. No one. I know I don’t like change. But now there is nothing but changes everywhere we look. We are all changing, because we have to.

Change is not fun at first but you get better at it, more used to it. You get so you come to expect the unexpected.

My daughters and I have a quote from a movie that truly applies to this sentiment “If it was not this it would be something else”. Every year this just feels more and more true.

Back in 2017 I went on vacation with my family to New York. We planned things ahead of time by a year or so, my husband is an obsessive planner, I mean that in the best way. I would be lost without him on vacations. This would be our second trip to New York, so we knew the things we wanted to do and not do. what could go wrong?

Always expect the unexpected.

On this trip my oldest daughter Dove started getting very sick. None of us knew what was wrong with her and she insisted she was ‘fine’ and to keep going with the trip as planned. She got her stubborn attitude from me unfortunately. By the time we where able to get to Montreal my husband and I immediately took her to Montreal General Hospital. Here we learned she had somehow developed a mega toxic colon, they fought it for a few days but unfortunately they could not reverse it. On the third day of her being there they told us she needed surgery, the odds of her surviving at this point where not good, to say our goodbyes in the next 10 minutes.

Waiting for news about her during that surgery where the longest and worst 7 hours of my life.

I’m happy to say she survived and is doing as well as she can. She has a massive scar and an ileostomy, but she has a good sense of humour about it.

Now who would think a family trip to New York and Montreal would end in near death and the loss the a major body organ. If you know us, it actually may not seem all that crazy.

Learning how to take care of a stoma so suddenly and quickly, in Montreal, where we don’t live, now that’s a learning curve! Flying home after all that not fun either. Did you know that ostomys are affected by pressure changes in flight? There was a lot to learn.

Life has a way of being forever changing our way. Thats what’s grate about being human, we have the ability to adapt and find joy despite what’s going on around us. We can look beyond the moment we are in and grow from the trials we go through.