My little sister, her husband and her two daughters had just returned  from a cross country road trip to California.  We’d all been kept abreast of what was happening via Facebook.

It was a great experience except for the fact that my sister had been struggling with back-pain and this trip was causing her pain to skyrocket.

As soon as she got back, she went to the doctor.  Much to everyone’s surprise, her x-rays revealed that she had a broken back.  They scheduled her for an MRI in preparation for surgery.

I remember coming home one evening and my wife looked up from where she was sitting at the table.

“I have some really bad news, ” the way she said it snapped me to attention.

“What’s up,” I  tried to sound casual, but the edge in my wife’s voice told me that this wasn’t the usual run of the mill bad news.

“Cathy called and she has stage 4 metastatic cancer.  Her bones are covered with lesions and,” she paused to take a deep breath, then continued, “It just doesn’t look good,” her voice trailed off.  Besides being my little sister, Cathy and my wife were very good friends.

At first I couldn’t process what she was saying.  I remember feeling numb and turning around to go out the door for a very long walk.  I remember thinking about my two nieces and what terrible days lay ahead for them.

Little did I know the roller-coaster  ride we were all in for and the amazing discoveries that turned a black storm into a journey toward joy.

—Paul