Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Quick Take: Counting Our Blessings

Today is Shea’s last day of high school, as impossible as that seems. She graduates on Sunday. The morning has been full of memories of this amazing and wonderful human being. She was a charming and cheerful baby, a cheerful and obstinate toddler, a cheerful and complicated child and adolescent. I’ve been thinking about two or three pictures of her in particular, which I’ll try to post tomorrow when I finally land after this travel binge of the last however-long-it’s-been.

On the travel front, let me pause a moment and say how great the shower rods are that curve the curtain way out, giving more room in the shower. If only this had come into hotel vogue before we remodeled our bathroom, we, too, would have one of these.

Of course the community of friends out there came up with someone in American’s operations at O’Hare, including an email address! Thank you, Kate. I’ll be writing after I finally get home and can clear off my desk, shovel clutter and do more than whatever is the most pressing item of the minute.

Last night, at dinner, this medical adventure came up, and someone remarked in horror “what a terrible year you’ve had.” I still don’t feel that way. I still feel that even my problems are luxuries and that, overall, this has been a good to great year. Sure, there was the scary diagnosis and brain surgery but there was also so much more: the family doing this together, the reconnection and unbelievable help and love with friends, the sense of caring and support from so many people in a larger community, great surgeons nearby so we didn’t have to travel, health insurance, sick leave, a flexible job during the recovery, and, of course, an almost-total recovery with more to go. What isn’t great about that year? In the ninth month of this adventure, life is coming back to normal and the remaining symptoms continue to recede, though at a slower
pace than in the beginning, which seems logical enough. If things don’t improve from here, we’ll be fine, and we continue to have non-crazy reasons to hope they will.

So here’s to a life of meaning filled with wonderful people. More about the amazing Shea, with pictures, in the next post.

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