Pain Demands to be Felt

Yesterday I saw the movie "The Fault in our Stars". Wow. If you need a good cry then let me tell you people, this is the movie to do it. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, I won't ruin the plot for you but it encompasses love, laughter, and cancer…three topics that will always pull at my heart strings and more than likely give me a good cry.

Throughout various parts of the movie, as I was taking in the emotion and feelings of the characters, I couldn't help but flash back to similar memories with Dad. Laughter, joy, doctors appointments, and the hardships and disappointments that fell in-between. I could talk for hours about all the memories this movie sparked, when in reality some of it is already written down in the blog, and all of it is in my heart. When "the last good day" was brought up in the movie my mind naturally fluttered off into Dad's last good day. The last good day is where the cancer patient has a moment of reprieve from the suffering of cancer.  The thing is though, you never know when your last good day is. Dad's last good day was the day before Kristen and I were departing for our road trip across the country, and a day I remember wishing could stand still in time forever. Family, friends, food, fun (gross, that sounds like one of those live laugh love signs…sorry)…it was all our favorite things under one roof. As I am looking back on that night tonight, I think that is what he wanted. One last good day, a perfect day, with his girls that was full of joy and laughs and quality time spent together. 

I took so much away from that movie, including the idea that "pain demands to be felt". It encompassed so much of what I have been struggling with in regards to feeling the pain of losing Dad. Pain in any shape and form never feels good so it is human nature to run from it and avoid it whenever possible. I think sometimes you have to embrace the pain that comes your way because it is there to be felt for one reason or another. It may be impossible to understand why you are having to endure pain in that moment, but how often does that pain bring us to a different place or mindset? Pain demands to be felt, so today, embrace the pain and live a life where you would be proud say your last good day was the best day because without pain, how could we know joy?

"Thats the thing about pain, it demands to be felt"