“Hi, Ade! How’s your day?” Mom queries as I pick up the phone.
My day? Normal. I’ve vacuumed, made peanut butter sandwiches, shoveled snow; I’ve helped the kids tie yarn ‘leashes’ onto stuffed dogs so they could take them for a walk; I’ve checked my bank account balance, folded laundry, dusted the furniture; the bathroom cleaning bucket is still waiting for me, that task yet to do.
And, I called my friend; my friend who has, since July, been sitting near the hospital bed of her not-quite-two-year-old son; praying and hoping for a miracle; watching her baby battle against the cancer that consumes his small frame. Her life has been flipped on end and her days are far from my kind of normal. For her, ‘normal’ means tests, surgeries, therapy, set backs, steps forward, small miracles and devastating news. She’s learned to speak a new language filled with medical terms and lab result vocabulary. Her family has experienced their day-to-day at home, thousands of miles away, while she bunks with extended relatives and sets up camp each morning in the oncology unit.
The news today isn’t good. The doctors have declared that there is no more they can do. They are trying to stabilize her son enough so that they can fly home and wait. Wait for a miracle, wait for the end…wait for normal to somehow resurface.
I’m sure she’d give anything to cook dinner and go sledding, mediate toy battles and wash windows.
Tears are flowing as I slowly push my vacuum, grateful that my day is so normal.
12 comments:
Adri, this is so beautifully written.
Sometimes I think my life is so simple and quiet, but I often thank my Heavenly Father for that simpleness.
Thanks for the reminder to enjoy what we do have so when the hard times come we can remember those normal good things.
Prayers to your friend's family.
Tears are flowing as I read your "normal" day.
I am so grateful for normal!
I loved our conversation the other day! Love ya, Vanessa
Sometimes it's hard to remember to be grateful for all our normal days. After hearing about your friend, it throws it all back into perspective. Thanks for sharing and tell your friend that we're thinking of them too.
We take so much for granted. Beautifully written Ade. I need to go hug my kids. And say a pray for your friend and her little one.
Thanks for putting a normal day in perspective. I am more appreciative of the things I have after reading this beautiful posting.
Adri, you have such a way with words! I'm so sad to hear the news about this little boy. You are such a good friend to keep updated and continue supporting her.
Adri- My little one was in the hospital last weekend for RSV- we left the next day well on the way to all better. I have been thinking all week how greatful I am for my own normal. Thanks for putting it into words. All our prayers and hopes to your friend.
Ditto to everyone else's comments - you really do write so beautifully, and capture such simple moments in such a profound way. Thanks for the reminder to be grateful for the "norm." I, too, will be thinking and praying for comfort for your friend. :o)
Wow--I've been feeling sorry for myself all day because Keith is out of town for nine days and left me alone with my 2.5 year old and brand new baby. Thanks for the perspective. All the best to your friend.
Adrie, you have such a gift for writing. Our friend is a common one and many tears have flowed on our end as well, only to continue as I read your post. It does make us so grateful and humbles us a little when we get so bent out of shape about the "small things". I only hope and pray that in the face of such hard things I would have only half of the strength and optimism of our dear friend. A lesson truly learned.
It sure puts life into prospective. Why does life sometimes test our capacity for sorrow. I'll send up a prayer for your friend and her little one (who must be an extraordinary special spirit to have such a trial).
I heard about this the other day from Heidi's sister who still lives here. Any news? You wouldn't happen to have her address? If so, please email it to me....
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