What tomorrow brings

\"I hate to write when bad things happen."\nThese were the opening words of an e-mail my best friend sent to me a few days ago. I believe we all feel the same way, but nevertheless, find no greater comfort than in sharing our stories with others.\nThere are events that occur in our lives that rearrange the way we wake up and set out to live each day. All of us have these moments, and all of us have our doubts as to whether or not there is any deeper meaning behind them all. \nSomehow, after reading my friend's e-mail and speaking with him on the phone, I find it hard to believe that there isn't. \nAt 1:15 a.m., his grandmother went into cardiac arrest. She had been having complications for some time, so this was more or less expected. The medics were able to gain an assisted heartbeat, but the brave woman had been fighting for too long and was unable to continue. She died in the ambulance on the way to the ER.\nThen, something happened.\nIn this early morning, with barely another soul on the street in this very small Indiana town, there was a loud noise. A man had been dragged 75 feet when a car had struck his motorcycle. My friend's uncle, a son of the recently deceased, was an EMT. His instincts forced him to run immediately to the scene. Other family members followed behind. \nHe started CPR and my friend directed the early workman's traffic. The man's boots were knocked off, his helmet was knocked off and his ribs were cracking as CPR continued. The ambulance finally arrived and they were able to revive him. The medics noted that had my friend's family not been leaving the small hospital at the moment that they did, had my friend's grandmother passed away minutes later or earlier, there would have been no one on that street to alert the hospital staff in time to revive the motorcyclist. \nThey saved his life. In a way, his grandmother had given her life to save another. The long string of events that had fallen into motion that night with one family losing a mother ended with another family helping a son. \nIf you feel things don't happen for a reason, visit the family of the man on the motorcycle. Ask them whether or not it was just luck that someone was there for him. Visit my friend, and ask him whether or not this was all a coincidence, whether or not his "Nonny" let that failing heart fight for just as long as it did, knowing there was no real chance of seeing the next sunrise.\nThe hands of fate wave their tapestries in subtle patterns. Often, we fail to notice them. Yet, ever so often, the designs become extreme and our failure to become aware is simply denial.\n"We'll see what tomorrow brings," my friend said in closing his e-mail. And indeed, tomorrow brings us many things. We should remember there's something out there bigger than all of us. Inconvenience has no place in ruining our days or in stressing us out to the point where we ruin the days of others. Somehow, it all adds up, and we still come out the winners. \nMy friend's final words to me are these and they are mine to you as well. They provide the best advice for how to deal with twists of fate, no matter how big or small. \n"Take care, give care … and remember, you matter"