Isn't it ironic

 What do you think when you think of a heartbeat?  The first sign of life or the last sign when it starts beating.  Hmm. There are many ways to describe a heartbeat.  For a mother, it's such a precious sound to hear the heartbeat of your first child.  For a daughter, the saddest time is to hear a loved one's heartbeat  for the last time.  I can say that I've never heard someone's last heartbeat and for that I'm thankful.

In 2018 one of my best friends was our team Captian for the American Heart Association Walk. He asked be to right something for our team.  I came across this tonight going through my journal.  I find some of the things I said were ironic or prophetic?

What do you think when you think of a heartbeat?  The first sign of life or the last sign when it stops beating.  Hmm. There are many ways to describe a heartbeat.  For a mother, it's such a precious sound to hear the heartbeat of your first child.  For a daughter, the saddest time is to hear a father's heartbeat for the last time.  I can say that I've never heard someone's last heartbeat and for that I'm thankful.

I've had the experience of listening to my babies heartbeat on the heart monitor during delivery.  My son's was very strong and never quivered.  Emily's was a little different.  As my epidural started to wear off, I could hear her heartbeat stop and then slowly start back.  Thank the Lord she was born before any damage could occur.

As an organ donor and a mother, there are many organs that are vital, but I guess none more than the heart.  I've seen many wonderful stories of parents and loved ones hearing their loved one's heart continue to beat, but only in another body. 

Our hearts are so much more than just an organ.  I believe the 2 most strongest organs and are kinda of like good vs evil, which is the heart and the mind(brain).  One is no stronger than the other.  How does one decide to go with their heart and not their mind.  I guess the answer to that will certainly make someone very wealthy.  The body can't survive without the heart or the mind.  Not without support.

But the soul doesn't survive without the heart. Webster's definition of the soul is "the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal."  I also think that's left to the belief of the individual.

As for me being that individual, this is my belief.

As for humans and believers we have to keep our heart healthy.  Eating right and exercising.

For more than 20 years, I watched my father fight and suffer from cardiac disease.  At fifty four he had his first double bypass and mitral valve repair.  I remember sneaking my 9 month all son up the back stairs so he could see his granddaddy.  It made his day.

For the next 20 years or more, I watched as his healthy deteriorate slowly due to his coronary artery disease.  He had several stints placed in his heart including his coronary artery, his carotids and iliac. 

Every year the American Heart Association brings awareness every year in an attempt to save lives.  Heart health starts when you're young.  There is no medicine that will reverse the effects of bad eating and not exercising.  I learned that watching my Dad.  Please don't be like me.  Start today and support your American Heart Association.

I was fortunate to be able to hear Em's heart beat as a baby.  However, standing by her beside for the last time, I listened to her heartbeat get slower and slower until we were forced to leave so the staff could try to start it one more time.  One more time that you hope will be successful, only to be told that it will not sustain.

We were forced to make life decisions in seconds of time.  Time we felt was forever.  Time we hoped would be forever.

Words can never describe, wounds that will never heal.  A precious life taken too soon.