Surviving

Wow! What a crazy week. My family and I have made it through yet another crisis, my mother ended up in the hospital this week with a staph infection in the incision where she had her back surgery three weeks ago. My father had taken her into the emergency room with a fever and difficulty breathing last Sunday, only to be told she was having anxiety and depression, but when I saw them I realized that her temperature was very high. We took it and found that it had risen to 103.9. We gave her Tylenol and later Ibuprofen. Monday my father ended up taking her to another emergency room, MUSC, she was admitted and tests were taken confirming staph. Mom was prepped for surgery Tuesday and given strong medications. We have once again battled what could have resulted in a horrible tragedy, but were thankfully spared.

It has taken days, but mom is almost herself again, and Dad is taking great care of her. I have been enormously inspired by my parents and the love that they show each other and the care my father has shown my mother during this trial. It will be impossible to ever question the love he has for her ever. He still calls her his bride, to this day and means it, which to me is a lovely endearment. The sparkle in his eye when he talks about her makes me almost blush, he is my father after all. I wonder often if my mom even realizes how much my father loves her and talks about her, how much he thinks about her and cherishes her very being.

When my parents took their vows they truly meant them, they have gone through thicker and thinner, richer and poorer, illnes and health. My parents have seen the good times and the bad. I love them very much and could not be happier to say they are my parents and two of my best friends. My parents are my role models as a married couple as survivors for many reasons. I hope to survive the many trials of life that they have with the grace and honor that they have. They are proud and honorable and I love them, they are my parents and I hope they are as proud of me as I am of them. I have survived my difficulties because I had their love and I respect every word of advice and bit of love they have given me.

A Treasure Lost

An Earthbound treasure was lost today
God felt that His heaven needed a counselor
Someone who had experienced the tribulations of life
Someone who could help those who had lost their way

Looking down from above He made His selection
One of few years, but the experience of ages
Youth is but a word
He knew He had made the right choice

The call was made and answered
A mother lost to Earth
A mother called to Heaven
Children left to grieve

The lifeless form discovered
The call to 911
Answered by child, father and mother
An Earthbound treasure lost

Our God has needs in heaven
Needs not fathomable on earth
Selections though questionable
Are accepted with a sadness

In Heaven there is a presence
One who has experienced the joys of life
One who has experienced the pains of life
One who can explain the meaning of life

Those arriving with questions
Now have a source of counsel
Someone to take them in tow
To comfort and quiet them

Our loss on Earth is a plus in Heaven
Our daughter and mother
Awaits those needing comfort
As they enter the haven of Heaven

Love, Dad May 30, 2009

Excitement and Change

Last week my husband, son and I decided we were going to move back to Charleston, SC. We had been talking about where we were going to be living for quite a few months and were having a difficult time making up our minds since Gary's job plans had been put on hold for the next few months. Chris, my son is 15 and has decided that he wants to go to a school that has a good junior ROTC program and wants to go to the school that his grandfather used to teach at in Charleston.

Through recovery, I learned that only way for me to achieve my goals was to set the goal and go step by step to achieve each goal. I had to be systemmatic in my process until I reached my goal, otherwise I would lose my way and not be able to achieve my goal. I am proud of Chris, he has learned to set goals and knows how to achieve them. He has set several goals in the past couple of years and been able to achieve them. He wanted to play baseball on the school team and he has done that, he wanted to receive all A's on his report card and he has also done that. My son has shown the ability to set a goal and reach it, he will do well in life.

Although there will be a lot of changes in our lives, I am looking forward to them. I am looking forward to the opportunities that my son will have by going to a school with a ROTC program. He will be able to have new opportunities that he would not have had a the smaller school that he was going to in Van Buren, OH. I am also excited to be back home to be close to my parents, my grandmother who is in a nursing home and my niece and nephew. My husband and I were hoping to move to Charleston soon and now we are and we are very happy. Life is full of exciting choices and changes, sometimes you just never know what is around the next bend.

I am still going to be finishing my Master's Degree in special education by October and may even find a new job prior to the new school year. I am excited by this, I did not even think I would have a job during this school year. There are several postings in Charleston County and maybe by the time I get my teaching license squared away with the state of SC there will be jobs available. I am still setting the achievable goals each and getting the things I have to do to get us moved this month so that we will be settled into the house we have rented by August.