Crap sandwich

Good Morning,

I ran across the following story on another website (www.caringbridge.org/visit/morganelizabeth) Morgan's mom posted it and it's actually written by someone else. She borrowed it and it touched me too so I wanted to share it on Jordan's site.

The Crap Sandwich -- By Kendrie's Mom

Imagine every year for Thanksgiving that you and your family go to a wonderful all-you-can-eat buffet. The food is always great and you look forward to getting the same delicious meal, year after year. So this year, you give your standard order to the waitress: an appetizer of “love”, a “caring” salad, the side dishes, “thoughtfulness” “compassion” and “laughter” and a big, juicy entrée of “good health and happiness for everyone”. The waitress brings you everything you asked for but the entrée. Instead, in front of you on the table, she places a big, fat crap sandwich. And the conversation goes a little something like this:

You: “excuse me, I didn’t order this crap sandwich”

Waitress: “house special. You got it without asking”

You: “but I don’t want a crap sandwich. I want good health and happiness for everyone.”

Waitress: “well, you got a crap sandwich.”

You (getting upset) “well take it back and give me what I asked for instead!”

Waitress points to a sign that says “Absolutely NO substitutions”

You say adamantly: “there is positively no way I am going to be able to choke down this crap sandwich and I think it’s really unfair for you to expect me to”

And the waitress replies “hey, look. You’ve still got love, caring, thoughtfulness, compassion and laughter, so try to appreciate those. Oh, I almost forgot, here’s your condiment tray for the crap sandwich. You also get big overflowing bowls of fear, worry, anger, guilt and resentment. Bon Appetit!”

And so you’re looking around the restaurant, feeling really grumpy about your crap sandwich, and you realize that there are a lot more people with crap sandwiches than you ever thought possible. And from the looks on their faces, none of them ordered them, either. Then you see a couple of tables with really, really big, Dagwood-sized crap sandwiches and you summon the waitress again. “Excuse me, why are their crap sandwiches so big?” And she explains that those people are facing situations even worse than yours. Their kids haven’t responded well to treatment, have had cancer relapses, or worse yet, died. And you start to think maybe your crap sandwich isn’t so bad after all. Maybe you should keep your big mouth shut, choke it down, and be glad when it’s all gone and everyone is well again. And then, right then, your waitress reminds you of one last thing: “Management reserves the right to serve you another, bigger crap sandwich, anytime they want”

What do you say when you realize that you can be delivered an even bigger crap sandwich at any time, without warning. Although Jordan has done remarkable throughout this entire storm, you never know if another dark cloud is lurking around the corner. You're afraid to look for it, you don't want to anticipate the rain, yet you move on each day, a fighter - against this evil beast. You do the best you can and you survive. Jordan is a true survivor, she amazes me daily with her strength and grace. Where did she get it from? How did she dig deep and find it? She never knew she was this strong until she had to fight for her life. She is a brave young lady with lots of plans. This is just a detour on her journey. I am so proud to call her mine.

Much love to you all. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and notes in the guestbook.

Please pray for our friends out there. Some of them we know personally, some we only know from Caring Bridge, or through other friends. They too have been dealt a crap sandwich, some bigger than others.

www.caringbridge.org/fl/taylor
www.caringbridge.org/mn/ellis
www.caringbridge.org/visit/carleevessel
www.caringbridge.org/visit/sierrakesler
www.caringbridge.org/visit/patrickwills
www.caringbridge.org/fl/mark
www.caringbridge.org/visit/morganelizabeth
www.caringbridge.org/fl/katia_leukemiapage
www.caringbridge.org/fl/jacob