Monday, May 24, 2010

Three years ago today I was dragging my suitcase around a children's hospital. Ralphie and I had a harrowing flight through dying thunderstorms on the hospital's airplane early that morning.

The thunderstorms were not the only thing dying.

My hope was dying. The afternoon before my husband and I sat in a conference room at our local hospital with Ralph's team of doctors. There was not much more they could do for him there except wait. ECMO was available at the children's hospital. A last resort.

I sometimes wonder why I have the need to remember Ralph's dark early days in such detail. I can almost still feel the numb sort of pain.

But when Ralph comes up from playing in the basement and I find him covered in red marker it all makes sense. (He even colored the bottom of one foot!) I can laugh about this instead of getting upset. I can see how far he has come. I can enjoy and appreciate him more, knowing how close we came to losing him.


These days we sit on the steps after school, wave good-bye to the bus, and he shows me what he made that day. Priceless.

5 comments:

Anita said...

I agree. Priceless!

Regina said...

Crying! I was just thinking the same thing this morning, about sometimes all the memories come back and overwelm me. I think we need to remember because like you said, we can appreciate where we are right now and how far our little guys have come. Thanks for sharing.

Lacey said...

I think its good to remember what they went through. These next four months are the 4 year anniversary of Jax long, terrifying hospital stay.

Leslie said...

Sweet post. I agree that remembering gives you perspective and much reason to give thanks!

Blessings
Leslie

Anonymous said...

Thankful to be able to look BACK on dark days from the sunlight of now. Barbara