Let’s face it folks. Sometimes life just up and slaps you in the face.

Usually when I write these blogs I’m talking about my own personal experience. This isn’t the case today. Even though my family lost its patriarch in January, he left quietly—Alzheimer’s slowly took him away.

Today I’m talking about my 18 year old friend who is facing surgery and terrified.  She’s had way too many health problems for a vibrant, beautiful young woman and there is no way she should have to be going through this.

But courage, dear one, is accepting that life is not balanced: it’s sloppy and often painful. It makes no sense. It’s filled with oddities and absurdities and ridiculousness. It’s why people like me (authors) see life in terms of characters and stories.

Courage is remembering that life is also filled with a million small acts of wonder and love. It’s a first kiss from that guy who makes even your toes tingle. It’s a little sister who holds your hand and tries to make it better. It’s a mother whose heart is breaking but who tries not to show it. It’s lifting your head and seeing the golden sunshine and feeling the cool breeze, then realizing that the day is absolutely perfect. It’s the pleasure you get when you smell that perfume that always makes you feel feminine and alive.

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It takes true courage to face something like surgery and get beyond the terror to remember the other side of living. But for every major mountain we face as humans, there are footholds and handholds to get us over it. For some, those holds are faith in God. For many, they are friends and family.

You’re facing a mighty mountain. But we’ll get you to the other side.

Genilee Swope Parente