Acceptance is a quality of being I've been contemplating quite a bit in recent times. Reflecting on the transformative nature of acceptance, an experience with my father came to mind.
In 2010, the last year of my father’s life, he was hospitalized several times in close succession. One night after we brought him home from one of these hospitalizations, and got him into bed, I was alone in the room with him. Kneeling next to the bed my heart full with the grief of what I sensed was a nearing loss of him, I lay my head on his chest. He placed his warm hand on my back.
We were silent.
After some time he spoke. “We’re lucky because we know how to accept things.”
Yes, I thought, my father's acceptance of his life as it is, and not his circumstances which were quite difficult, is why he felt lucky.
He included me as one of the lucky ones, though I wasn't sure I had earned it.
But that moment deepened my aspiration to be lucky no matter what.