Hey, by the grace of God, you survived to tell this story. It’s interesting what a piece of ice can do for one’s life; how a piece of ice can be used as such a valuable reminder to not panic. You were so young, not even in the double digits yet, if memory serves me well. You were in the kitchen drinking Kool-Aid that was chilled by ice cubes. Sometimes in drinking, one will capture a piece of ice in the mouth and play around with it, enjoying the coolness and the hardness, before spitting it back into the cup.

That is precisely what you were doing and it was something you’d done many times. However, this time was different. One of those ice cubes got lodged in the back of your throat, immediately making it difficult to breathe. A sense of dread grabbed hold of you, even more so, because you were home alone. “What do I do?” At the onset of panicking, you calmed down and collected yourself, dumping the remaining contents of the cup into the sink, before turning the faucet on for warm water. It was as if you were a completely different person (this calmness something you would later attribute to mercies of the Almighty God). You allowed some of the warm water to fill part of the cup and, once done, tilted your head backward and dumped that warm water down your throat in hopes of melting the ice that was stuck there.

Thank GOD. It worked. There was some soreness after, but you lived.

You probably never would have guessed the volumes this would speak to you in the future. It is a story that you often remembered and sometimes told. It helped you through a very difficult time in your life, during and after the loss of Papa and, coincidentally, it is now serving a purpose once more for you today. No, not today in an all-encompassing sense, but today, October 31, 2024.

May the essence of this story echo throughout the rest of your life when it gets overwhelming and you have many reasons to panic.

Peace be.

It is a motto that I’ve come to greatly cherish across the span of time I’ve been on this earth. It keeps me grounded, especially when I find myself feeling overwhelmed by the troubles that decide to surface in each passing day. One day at a time. A simple phrase, but a powerful reminder that I don’t need to reach for the worries of the morrow. That’s right. I only need to focus on what’s right in front of me in this increment of time. It also tells me that even if the ‘day’ itself seems too long, I can break it down even further. Yes; to the hours, minutes, and seconds. Sometimes, it’s the very thoughts of these that help one to hang on by a thread. Like a friend that holds your hand, gives it a squeeze, and reminds you to breathe.