A Journey from Surviving to Thriving

It was on April 12 of this year that I heard the following   words from my pulmonologist when I asked him about the expected longevity of my journey with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: “My crystal ball isn’t all that clear, Don, but I suspect you don’t have more than several months.” As you can guess, hearing those words was not exactly all that exciting! I thought it might be helpful for me (and maybe for you too) to process some of the thoughts and feelings that spiral out of these words spoken over five months ago. I dislike making this post all about me, but working through all this is helping me personally. As I write, I feel somewhat as if you and I are sharing together over coffee and Danish pastry. That alone helps me! 😀   Obviously, none of us know how long we will live. For many people, this is an awkward subject and I will not be offended if you stop reading here. But I don’t think the subject of death and dying needs to be frightening. Don’t get me wrong. The thought of

Most people, I believe, whether they admit it or not, are in pursuit of a safe place—a place where they can escape the rigors of life when those overwhelming difficulties set in.  For some, it might be an immersion in the job or total isolation from people or a long unscheduled vacation or a long phone call with a friend. For others, as the difficulties grow, that safe place might become an unhealthy escape into drugs, heavy alcoholism, or even suicide.  Each person is looking for that safe place—“a refuge”. WHAT IS A REFUGE? Webster suggests that a refuge is a “shelter or protection from danger or distress; something to which one has recourse in difficulty.” For example, the Hebrew word for refuge, “machaceh,” refers to a shelter from storms and danger.  This shelter is like the bunkers that many Israeli families have in their homes today to shelter them from small scale attacks. Each of us, especially in times of difficulty, is in search of that protective shelter—that place of