One Up One Down

Have you ever played the (drinking) game "one up, one down"?  It can be really fun, or really maddening, depending upon how quickly you catch on to the rules -- which are not explained to you before playing.  The person who starts (and is in the know) will say "one up, one down" or "two up" or "two down."  The next person goes and says one of those three choices, and is either congratulated or corrected.  Eventually folks catch on that the phrase refers to where your hands are.  Two up around your face; one down holding your drink with the other tucking a piece of hair behind your ear; two down in your lap.

The game of life can be really fun, or really maddening, too.  Sometimes it feels like just as things are looking up, something else comes around to knock you down. Often there is no rhyme or reason.  You keep playing and guessing and hoping that the fates are smiling on you, that its going to go your way this time, that you have figured it out.

I thought of the phrase "one up, one down" when I sat down to write this post, because Tuesday Sheri finished her last round of Taxal!  One WAY UP for sure.  Her dad has received a cancer diagnosis and is preparing for surgery.  One  . . . down?  Maybe.  Of course that is not the news you would hope for.  But there are options for treatment, the family is together, Keith has helped navigate the plan, and hey . . . sweet Sam celebrated a birthday over the weekend.  One up, one up, one up, one up SKY HIGH!!

So much you can't control . . . but whether you circle up and support each other through the challenging times . . . as Sheri and her family have demonstrated . . . that part is all in your hands.

~Bess