Keep your fork…

2020 was a year of many challenges. I, like many other people, lost family members, friends, and also a few dreams during this hard time.

At the end of the year, a pastor friend of mine, sent me a story to cheer me up. Not only did it achieve that, but it also gave me a completely different perspective on how to wait for the future. Usually, we expect bad things to occur no matter what our actual circumstances are.

The story was about a very ill young woman whose heart suffered a malfunction. After some failed treatments, her doctor decided that surgery would be her only chance. After many studies, he and the surgeon had a meeting with the patient to explain the few possibilities she had. She, finally was agreed to take her chances. Considering the high risk of the surgery, the doctors asked her if she had any special request. Her answer was that she wanted to have a fork in her hand during the procedure. The doctors were shocked for some time. This was completely against the rules of a surgery. However, they agreed to allow it because it might be her last wish.

After the meeting, the doctor asked her reason for this very estrange request. She said that many years ago, her grandma told her about an old waiter she knew. When she and her husband went to the restaurant he worked at, they always sat at one of his tables. He was very gentle and polite, and when he came to take out the plates, he always said, “Keep your fork…the best is yet to come.”

My dear friend didn’t tell me if the young woman survived or not, maybe because is not important for the story profound message of positivism.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to keep a fork in m y pocket for whatever the future has in store for me.