“I can’t believe we’re actually going to do this.”
It was Friday night. We were enjoying a light dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants, talking about our plans for the upcoming week. On the following Thursday we would be flying to the Dominican Republic for Steve’s brother’s wedding.
We had spent the last month gathering appropriate wedding attire for a tropical beach ceremony. Our travel plans were set. We’d gotten out our passports, I was planning to brush up on my Spanish. Mostly, we were looking forward to being with family, meeting our new sister-in-law, and making new friends. At least, that was the plan.
But later that night, shortly after midnight, Steve woke me from a sound sleep. “I’m sorry to wake you up, but I’ve been having chest pains for about an hour.”
In the span of a few hours, we exchanged wedding attire for hospital gowns, and passports for insurance cards. Rather than Spanish, we were brushing up on medical terms, and learning some new vocabulary: troponin levels, EKG’s, cardiac catheterization, stent. We still spent time talking with family–by phone– and made some wonderful new friends in the caregivers at the hospital. Oh, and we even have pictures! Before and after pictures of his heart, giving evidence of a once-blocked artery, now able to do its proper job.
The whole experience reminded me once again that life is what happens while we’re making other plans.
We’re not the first people on this earth whose plans have been upended. The Bible is full of people who were rerouted on God’s highway. Everyone from Joseph to Moses to the crippled beggar in front of the Beautiful Gate, suddenly found themselves on a different path than they’d set out upon. Through their experiences–detours and all–they gained a deeper level of trust and obedience. They grew. And we did, too.
I know that many good people experience difficult circumstances with sometimes devastating outcomes. Why we were spared from what could have been far worse, I cannot say. I only know this experience, and those of the past year, have caused us to appreciate so much more the family, friends, blessings, and opportunities that God has given us, by His grace and mercy.
Wedding or not, I think that’s the best gift anyone could receive.
Copyright 2013 Mary Egidio — Permission is granted to reproduce, but with attribution and not for commercial gain.
A Traveler's Journal 
Oh Mary — so happy to hear that all went well with Steve! Why do these things always seem to happen in the middle of the night when resting??? Thank the Lord it didn’t happen when you were at the wedding in another country!! You word things so beautifully which is a real praise to out Lord!!!