I am about to start my in a few minutes as my students one by one drag themselves into my 6 a.m. morning kick boxing class. This group of individuals are so unique. I teach mostly evening classes during the week and the energy from my students is upbeat and filled with expectation. The vibe from my morning group is different. They are slow in their moments at first but by the time we finish they are energized with a new life and vigor that is ready to take on the world. Before I begin my warm up I almost immediately notice that someone is missing. It is in the back right hand corner of the room that I realize that the lady who stands in the back is not there!

I recognize her always by the baseball cap that she wears to cover the fact that she is losing her hair due to the kemo treatments she had to endure in the past 6 months. Still at the end of every class she will always manage to stop by and give me a hug before she leaves.

She is not here today. I can sense that there is something wrong today. It is not long that I finish my class and send my students off to take on the day. I am approached by one of my students, an older man who personally knows the lady in the back. He comes up to me with a sad look on his face as he says "Sgt. Roy it doesn't look good for her". His expression doesn't offer much reassurance as his eyes quickly glance down at the floor. "The cancer is not going away and her husband has limited her activities; your class is one of them", he added. I stood there stunned as he continued to update me on the status of her. Just last month we all rejoicing about the news that it appeared that the cancer was going into remission. That all changed. She was dying. I had learned a while back that she is also a devoted wife and a caring mother of 3 young boys.

I thanked the man for keeping me up to date about her progress. As the last remaining student left the room I stood there. When everyone leaves the studio the temperature drops immediately draining the room of its heat and energy leaving you standing in a dark chasm of silence. I packed up my bag and I decided to walk over to the spot where this woman stood week after week following me as I barked out instructions. Not once did I ever see her quit or give into the brutality of the exercises that I decided to do that week.

This woman has a brain tumor I would learn later that she made it one of her goals to get up every morning and live it to fullest! I could feel the tears beginning to form in my eyes as as the wave of emotions were attempting to over take me. Suddenly it dawned me. I would be dishonoring this woman if I expressed any amount of pity over her situation. Yes it was true that she was dying leaving behind a husband and 3 young children. Her family were probably preparing themselves to grieve over the thought of losing her. My position would be different than theirs. Moving forward whenever her name would come up in conversation my posture would be as the one who would celebrate the greatness of how she lived her life. I would be the cheerleader on the sidelines encouraging others to look at her life and use it as a source of inspiration. If there would be anything she wanted from me, this would be how she preferred to be remembered.

My understanding is simple. It doesn't matter whether we have 10 years or 10 minutes to live the rest of our lives on this planet, we are to live out our lives to the fullest to the glory of God. I know without a doubt that life can never be measure in terms of time or things. The true measure of one's life is what we do with it within the allotted time that is given to us. This lady in my opinion has truly used her time wisely.

 

Article by Sgt. Roy