Tears and Laughter Together

“It’s easy to be pleasant when life flows by like a song.
But the man worth while is the one who can smile
When everything goes dead wrong.

For the test of the heart is trouble and it always comes with years.
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through the tears.”

–Irish Proverb

I have a friend who is getting ready to undergo mastectomy surgery to combat breast cancer.

Obviously this is a traumatic time in her life and last night she wrote an e-mail to her friends who have been supportive during her cancer battle.

What struck me most about her insightful words was that she still maintains her trademark sense of humor despite the physical difficulties she is enduring.

At one point, in thanking all of us for the many prayers we have offered on her behalf, she stated that she hopes the powers that be don’t do a background check on her before her mastecomy surgery….her primary concern being that they might uncover the fact that she once auctioned off a “flash of the beauties” for a charity benefit.

I laughed outloud at her comment, and at the same time felt tears running down my cheeks as I thought about this tender hearted and giving woman now facing her deepest fears of life and death.

It takes a special individual to be able to evoke tears and laughter at the same time.  I pray that she will be allowed to stay with us for many years to come.