Life is... to live.

I drove a friend to a clinic at Stanford for her prenatal check-up today because her husband is away at a meeting in the city. A sweet lady whom I met once and got to know through an ex-colleague.

We went for lunch together before the appointment and chatted casually about life in USA. I knew from her blog that it hasn't been an easy pregnancy because she had pre-existing health conditions. I had expected her check-up to be long which I didn't mind at all and was all ready to wait with my book till she was done.

What I didn't expect was that after she came out from the doctor's, she told me that she had to do additional tests and might have to stay in the hospital till her delivery in March. I didn't understand fully what the complications are but that her condition might deteriorate very fast and the doctors wanted to err on the side of caution. I drove her to the hospital and offered to wait with her but she told me to go home first because it will be a long wait.

I'm not sure why I feel very down after hearing the news. Once again it hit me how often we take our own health for granted. I push my brain, my heart, my eyes, my back to the point of pain for work, and then to de-stress I load my body with wine, beer, fried/processed food. I never love my health.

I never stop to let myself breathe and enjoy life until now.

Funny how when I look back at the happiest moments of my life, it was when I was living on a budget. There are so many things I can't do when I am living on a budget that I start to take advantage of the free and cheap things I can do. Borrow books from the library, take a walk in the park, call parents/grandparents to talk, cook, exercise... and all these makes me feel that I'm consciously living.

Happiness really, really comes in taking time to live.