Seriously? What the F*ck is Happening Right Now?

When life comes at you fast — faster than ever before.

Susan Poole
6 min readNov 15, 2023
Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Everyone has at least one story about how their life changed dramatically in a flash.

I thought a cancer diagnosis several years ago marked “the big one” for me. But oh, no. Someone had other plans. And here I am again, wondering what happened and how to move forward.

One minute, I was going about my routine. I woke up Thursday morning thinking about my daughter’s wedding in July and anticipating her homecoming this weekend to pick up her gown.

First, there was lots to get done. I conquered the daily Wordle while I drank my coffee before setting off for a work appointment. After a busy morning, I cut out to play pickleball with a neighbor, excusing myself after the second match because of a looming headache. I couldn’t afford to feel sick with my daughter in town, so I went home to catch a quick catnap before finishing up a few other work projects.

When an ache in my stomach joined the one in my head, I called my girlfriend to ask about COVID symptoms. Was it going around again? Could this rapidly increasing feeling of yuck be signaling a positive test result? Or maybe it was the flu.

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Susan Poole

Mother, lawyer, nonprofit executive, breast cancer survivor, and aspiring author. Recently left her day-job to write about topics that she’s passionate about.