Tomorrow Will Come
It always does
On a crisp fall night, Cassie’s father reads her a story and tucks her in. She fights sleep as he urges her to close her eyes, there’s a big day ahead. Cassie will be starting the 2nd grade at a new school in a town far away from her old home. She longs for her father to stay with her because she can’t imagine going anywhere without him. Especially since it had been a year and a half since her mother passed unexpectedly from a heart defect. All they had left was each other.
Noting her resistance, he asks her “What’s wrong kiddo?”
She responds, “Daddy, I’m scared, because you won’t be there.”
Her father begins to chuckle. With both hands, he clutches her hand.
He tells her “I’m afraid too. We’re all afraid of something, especially moving forward alone. Whether you go to sleep or not, tomorrow will come. Only you can decide if you will be rested or exhausted dealing with tomorrow. Tomorrow you will have to go on your own. And even though I can’t be physically with you throughout the day, I will still be with you in spirit.”
Taking comfort in her father’s words, she released herself into sleep.
Twenty years from that night, Cassie stands over her father’s casket, distraught but remembering his words decades before were meant for this moment. She hears his voice in her head, holding one hand in the other she whispers, “I know you’re here with me in spirit.”
She knew the temptation to think and not sleep would come to her later that night. Cassie couldn’t have predicted a stroke would take her father and leave her an orphan at the age of 28, but like her dad said, tomorrow will come. Cassie walks away from her father just as she did decades ago, tears streaming down her face but her head still held high. Though tomorrow’s grief is inevitable, she knows that only she can decide if she will be physically rested or exhausted as she manages.
Tomorrow may be completely out of our control, but our physical condition while we’re managing is still in our control. Whether tomorrow brings us present-day anxiety, depression, or grief, it’s always much better to handle those things rested if we can. I’ve personally learned that rest may not be the cure, but it is a strong defense for mental health.
