Cancer and Scrooge Don't Mix.

The other day at work I made a pessimistic joke to my friend to which some brand new guy said, "happiness is a choice." Now yes, I'm a positive person but I'm also a person who gets very perturbed by people who jump in conversations that don't concern them. So, his words were not words that gave me some sort of an epiphany, but words that annoyed the hell out of me. One, because of the aforementioned reason and two because, as my mom always reminds me, I don't like to be told what to do or that I'm wrong. Which, is very, very true. Either way, his words stuck with me out of my dislike for them. I thought about them a lot. They're honestly words I've thought to myself before, but like any good inspirational quote there is a time when it's true and a time when it's not.
From my experience with my Father's cancer I'd say that happiness is not a choice. You don't get to choose if you're happy or not, more times than not you are forced to be happy. And if you're not happy, well the ghosts of Christmas are coming your way because you are Scrooge.
I can't tell you how many times we've been stressed about the next step, worrying what to do next until answers were literally handed to us. The first answered prayer and "forced happiness" came to us during Dad's first week at UAMS. Everything that week happened so suddenly. Mom and Dad had to leave for Little Rock ASAP. Dad would start intense testing and his first rounds of chemotherapy. Mom wanted all 3 of us kids there to spend time with them before Dad started getting weak and sick from it. So, we all packed up and met the night before to make plans. I'm not sure who brought it up first but I remember the concern of gas money. We were going to be driving Jeff and I's SUV to Wichita and dropping it off, taking Mom and Dad their pacifica, and taking Taylor's Jeep to Little Rock. 3 SUV's, 16 hours round trip for each one. Hella gas. I knew I had enough money to get us there but wasn't sure about the drive back. Taylor and I talked and decided we'd just have to pray about it. I was hoping for a "fish and bread miracle," that I would wake up and my account would have multiplied overnight. I knew it was unlikely but God had to pull through somehow. That next morning I woke up to find no difference in my account. I headed over to my parent's and my sister told me she had received a call from Robyn at the KHP. Some of the troopers and, I believe, some of the recruits from Dad's class had gotten together and raised enough money for gas, food, and probably even enough for a hotel if we needed it. Happiness was forced upon us. We didn't choose it, we were handed it. Sadness? Anger? Woe is me? Those weren't even options. We had no choice but to be happy and completely elated.
That's just one of several stories where happiness was our only option. Cancer may crappy, and it certainly isn't a happy thing in itself, but with the life of cancer comes a life of blessings and happiness. So, in my thoughts, you don't choose to be happy, but you choose to have faith and not to give up, and with that comes the happiness.