Mary O’Malley – A dear friend I have known since junior high, whom I have not seen for a couple of years, was coming to Seattle for a visit last month and we planned on getting together. We talked a few months before the visit and she gave me the dates that she would be here in Seattle, and I in return gave her general dates I would be available. Then we talked a month before the visit and I gave her specific dates as I was going to be out of town at the end of her visit. Not having heard from her I texted her the week before the visit to check-in about what dates we could get together.

All the dates she sent me were for the time that I was going to be out of town. That was the first inkling that this was going to be a teaching moment by Life. I told her that getting together with her was important to me and asked if there was any way that she could shift some things around. When she said no, it was like being hit with a sledgehammer in my stomach. Continue reading →