Uncomfortable reminders...

We got an Uncomfortable wake-up call this week. One of my co-workers, at 39 years old, had a mild stroke while in the break room. Needless to say,  we're all a little shaken up by this.

Now, due to the marvels of modern medicine, he's no longer doomed to a life as a quivering vegetable, and will most likely recover fully. (blood thinners...the forgotten miracle of modern technology.) 

I just got back from visiting him at the hospital, (Kaiser Permanente,  how is it that they can  make managed care look like a run down trailer park?) and he's already walking around and cracking jokes with not even an unexplained twitch of a stammer.

But something keeps tugging at my memories, drudging up long burried worries and attacks of panic from my sophmore year in High School, when a classmate keeled over and died in the middle of Spanish class. 

Sometimes, life doesn't just give you a gentle reminder that you are mortal. It kicks you hard, and usually in very painful places, to remind you.

We're all taking a giant, collective "Phew!" because he's going to be OK.