PERSPECTIVE

I found out recently my body is making too many red blood cells

and although this news…I didn’t love it

It only means, every now and then, when it comes to my blood…

the doctor takes some of it.

So I’m in the doctor’s office as the doctor’s needle begins to take hold…

And I’m feeling a little sorry for myself…wondering…when did I get so old.

Then I look around the room I’m in and what should I happen to see

But 3 other men with needles in their arms…sitting next to me.

Only they weren’t having blood drawn…although stuck with a needle just like me

they were in for cancer treatments…hooked up to IV’s.

The man across from me was sleeping 

the man in the corner was trying to find a way

to get comfortable. “Because”, he said,

“I’ll be her most of the day.”

When I smiled at the man sitting on my left he said, “It’s not as bad as it appears.”

“It’s something you get used to…I’ve been coming here 10 years.

I finished quickly and as I was leaving a man using a walker, barely clinging to life

struggled to walk in on his own…followed by his wife.

As I looked back I heard the wife say, “he’s cold”

and as the nurse pulled a blanket off the shelf

I felt a little ashamed…for feeling sorry for myself.

It’s true when I first sat down so they could take my blood

I was feeling a little blue…

but a little change of perspective 

quickly changed my point of view.

As once again I was reminded

how life is a continuous quest

and I should think less about my troubles

and more about how I’m blessed.