One thing that's been popping in and out of my mind the last few days is the first thing I realized that Tesslee taught me. When I think about the drive home from the doctor's office after receiving the news that she was gone, I still wonder how I made it home. I remember gripping the steering wheel, and trying so hard to focus on the road while tears gushed down my face and my mind was a million miles away. I prayed that I would make it home safely, and I managed to get to my mom's. She drove me the rest of the way home. A couple hours later, after having a little time for things to sink in, I found myself replaying the drive home, with a new perspective, though.
I thought about how many times in my life I have been driving along, and someone pulls right out in front of me, causing me to slam on the brake... Or someone almost merges into me... Or people have seemed so oblivious to other drivers. I used to get so frustrated! I see everything differently now. I think of the many people who I'm sure were frustrated with how SLOW I was driving that afternoon, and wonder if I had cut any one off on the way home.
I find myself giving others the benefit of the doubt, a lot now. I find myself saying, maybe they just received some shocking news of their own... maybe they are frantically trying to get to the hospital. The fact is, I don't know what they are going through. And I am so grateful to those who were (and are) patient with me every single day. I hope I don't ever forget this little bit of insight Tesslee's experience has taught me, that I am forever changed to look at things from a different perspective before I jump to conclusions.
No comments:
Post a Comment