The following email was sent to our colleague Vickie by a friend of her family when he was diagnosed with a serious medical challenge. His comments below were written in response to the example of Vickie's husband Tim, who said that in life we must face facts and tackle them head-on. Tim said this simply, by stating, "It is what it is." (the following is edited for use in the context of this blog):
Dear Vickie:
(Written Mar 24, 2013) You never know when something will happen that opens your eyes to the meaning of things you are told.
I did not know that when my dear friend Tim was diagnosed, his way of dealing with it was, "It is what it is". At that time I did not understand what it meant, but as most of you know, no stranger am I to misunderstandings.
Now that I am fighting my own battle, it has become very clear to me that this can mean something different to each of us as we face our own challenge.
To me 'it is what it is' means I can’t go around this, over this, or under this. My only option is to go through this.
I have no fear because this is much bigger than me. I have turned it over to my God.
Thanks to [my wife], the rest of my family, and all of my kind friends that have given me their support, I can raise my head and march straight through it.
The path may be hard, or it may be easy - but "it is what it is". With God’s help and your support all I must do is go down the path. Thank you for going though it with me.
Thanks each of you - and a special thanks to Tim and Vickie for sharing their journey which is helping me get my head around this.
Dave