"It'll feel better when it stops hurting." I know others have used this phrase before, but I first encountered these words of wisdom in 1982 courtesy of my older cousin Darren Hottinger. Unfortunately at that time I was always the recipient of these "helpful" words because I was the one hurting. Darren, you understand, was in the process of what's called "Manning someone up". In particular he was trying to "Man" me up. You see I was a mama's boy and Darren had graciously taken it upon himself to slowly add chest hair to my mama boy tendencies. Great memories now, but at the time I was 9 or maybe 10 and was scared to death of being laughed at, locked in a closet or any other variety of tools that Darren may have been pondering. It was nothing ever very serious in retrospect, but for me and the perspective that I had it was world changing. Darren's perspective I am sure was that of a normal teenage boy. "Hey we're just having some fun." Yeah, fun that always ended with me getting hurt. Darren would wait just for the right time and would utter those words that I will always remember "It'll feel better when it stops hurting." I know now the spirit with which it was said was one of simplicity and matter of fact. As I have gotten older, however, the depth of application to ordinary and extraordinary life trials is immeasurable. Sometimes, things can't be fixed. Sometimes hurts are only ever quashed by Father Time. Dealing with my Dad's dementia has been a long road filled with twists, turns, mountains, valleys and many dark tunnels along the way. While I know there are exceptions to every rule, I am pretty confident that whatever you may be going through, rest assured that somewhere down the long black tunnel before you is a small light. Don't forget about it. Use it for motivation and keep pressing on. For it is neither the quickest or the strongest that win the race but it is those who persevere. Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. (Author Unknown) |