I'm 19 weeks pregnant, following a tragic miscarriage at week 15 of my last pregnancy. Our recent sonogram showed a healthy baby, on most counts, with only a small anomaly on the left ventricle of our tiny baby's heart that could mean everything or nothing at all. And we won't know until our tiny one is born, months and months from now.
But the picture is so perfect. The profile is so wonderful. It's like the baby knew we needed a good photo and sat still for a moment, a brief moment when we could capture his or her perfect image. And now we have that photo as well as an alarming photo of his or her tiny heart.
So basically, we have hope, and that is about it. We have no assurances. We have hope. And sometimes hope has to be enough.
Like in the instance of an acquaintance of mine, Blake. After a doctors visit precluded by stomach pain, he discovered a tumor blocking his colon, and has been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.
As you all likely know from my account of my mom's fight and death from colon cancer so many years ago, the chances that he will survive are quite low. So he clings not to assurance of life, but to hope.
For across the spectrum of religious beliefs or non-belief, the only assurance we have is that death, indeed, will come. So in the face of that, we cling to our hope.
So it is but hope to which I cling today. What about you?
