You can't predict the future...

In life, it's easy to take the present for granted. It's far harder to live in the moment, but it can be magical if you can. Memories are sometimes at their best when something unexpected happens. It could be a song sung with friends that forms a bond, a moment of something unexpected from a stranger, or something said that you were never expecting to hear.

There were however two very unexpected memories of moments, that have paved the way my life would go ever since and unfortunately they weren't good memories - my epilepsy diagnoses and re-diagnoses.

The day my world came tumbling down, I knew exactly why it had happened, there was no need for a searching explanation. I had just had a re-occurrence of my epilepsy, and I thought in that moment, and the few days after, that I'd never have the same standard of life again. I wanted a purpose and I had found it as a Police Officer, but it had been taken away from me and I never thought in the week that followed that I would be able to find one again.

Life has a funny way of working out what is for you though. These days there's very few jobs that you have for life, so for those friends who lost theirs in the last week, I can only say this...

In the ten years after my seizure as a Police Officer, I have been to university, worked in politics, cycled across America, started a business, carried the Olympic flame and even found time to start a blog.
They are the highlights since I left the police, but there have been countless moments along the way that aren't just the normal 9-5 and that make everything just a little bit more interesting. I guess I would have had a very safe life, a very regimented one and looking back, I couldn't conceive of doing half of the things I have done in the last ten years, had I only been a copper. When life pushes you in a new direction, I guess you just have to embrace it.

Today I heard about the death of a very close family friend, an adopted grandmother if you will, and it reminds you of how precious life can be. Thankfully, my late Grandfather's partner had lived a good long life and it seems, died quickly and I think peacefully too.
I suppose my epilepsy wasn't the life sentence I thought it might be, and Daulcie tonight has reminded me to cherish the life I have. Things may change because of the hand you have been dealt in life, but it's still yours to cherish, no matter what road bumps you might hit along the way.

If I was to meet someone who had just been diagnosed with epilepsy, or just lost a job, I would say that it isn't all bleak. Life is what you make of it and things have a habit of coming along, that you hadn't planned for too, that add to what you have tried to make as your future.


I might have some restrictions on what I can do next, but I've enjoyed the times when I could live in the moment, even if it was just that. After all, sometimes life can be at it's best when the future isn't planned out in front of you.
So enjoy what you have, plan a bit if you can, but make sure you remember the things life threw at you that were just wonderful moments, however small, looking forward to the next time life will throw something else wonderful your way.