There was a Saturday several years ago when this crew was together. They were ending a week of EFY- a youth camp at Southern Virginia University run by some of our church members. I was swinging by to grab Shannon on our way to Florida to spend a couple of weeks at our favorite spot near Fort Myer where a good friend lets us stay. It was the end of a great week, and the beginning of another great couple of weeks. I think I have a photo somewhere of Shannon on the beach holding up a taquito above her head, which she claimed she was "solar cooking". I've been dreaming of weeks like that. Weeks on the beach, weeks with nothing to worry about, weeks filled with spiritually uplifting classes. It's such a crazy world we are currently in, and I don't really know what to make of it.
Yesterday I was at the store picking up a must-have emergency essential item for Shannon. I can't tell you what it was, because she will read this and spoil the surprise- but believe me.. it's a MUST HAVE ITEM. You'll have to check back in on Tuesday to find out what it was. Anyway, I was standing about 100 feet away from the entrance of Wegmans, obediently on my "stay six feet away from the person in front of you" yellow dot. It occurred to me that Shannon won't be in one of these lines. She's going to be in rehab another 6 weeks and then won't be making any trips to stores in the near future. Hopefully this is all but a happy (nightmare?) memory by summer. So I snapped a photo of the line to show Shannon what life on the outside looks like.
The lady in front of me didn't look pleased that I took a photo of the back of her sunglass and mask laden head. So I just explained that my daughter was in an accident on March 15th, before all of this really starting coming undone, and she's in spinal rehab now, and it's hard to explain to her what it's really like out here. I was just taking a photo to show her. She got all upset about my daughter- asking if she's okay, how are you dealing with all of this, etc. I had mentioned it apparently too nonchalantly, and my responses were similar, and she seemed upset that I wasn't upset. She asked HOW, how are you just standing in line at the grocery store casually mentioning your daughter's condition like it's not a big deal? I told her it is a big deal, but I don't need to worry about her, because she's had so many blessings, so many miracles. She's going to be fine. It's hard, there are hard days with lots of stress. But she fought hard and was blessed by God and now she's alive and well, and making great progress. I don't need to be consumed by her condition. She's going to be okay.
I keep forgetting that I'm not worried about her being okay. It's one of the tender mercies I've been blessed with lately. I'm worried that she's lonely, struggling with her therapies some days, having to endure all of this on her own because we can't be with her. But she is STRONG, and she's a FIGHTER, and she will MAKE IT THROUGH. And, she's alive and well because of the blessings and miracles that we've seen happen in her life. I am at peace, we are all going to get through this.
We were able to FaceTime Shannon during her speech therapy today. They plugged her trach and she said with her own little Roz voice "Hi, how are you?" and "I love you". It was so much fun to hear her voice!
She also had more real food, did a puzzle for her cognitive therapy, and sat in the wheelchair for a while. She dislikes sitting in the chair. It's uncomfortable, and she gets tired and dizzy. Her blood pressure isn't yet where it should be, because of her spine injury. It makes her feel weak and dizzy.
Otherwise, its been an uneventful day (which is waaaaaay better than bad events, so we love these kind of days) where she was able to get a lot of rest. Tonight while we FaceTimed, she was eating a PBJ sandwich! She was pretty happy about that. Shannon loves her sandwiches. Then she got thirsty, but the water was out of her reach. She set down the phone and did some acrobatics to try and reach it. I saw a hand, arm, elbow, cool looking scar, hospital gown...then a frown. Just out of reach. Happily she has a call button and someone at her beckon call. All re-hydrated, we chatted a bit more and then I begged off to finish writing this so I can head to bed.
On the home front, we have been in full basement finishing mode. There is so much to get done so that Shannon has an accessible room and bathroom, and we are chipping away at it as best we can. There are, of course times of play. The 'boys' decided to demo all the extra cabinets we aren't using that we pulled out of our old home a few years ago, and also some old CD stands. I walked out to the driveway to find Lancer putting the glass doors into the garbage can and Austin cocking a bb gun which was supposed to break said glass. That didn't work so Lancer just smashed it- and glass flew everywhere. I had to remind myself that times like these are the reason I need to just stay inside when the boys all go missing. They are certainly up to no good, and it's better for me to not even know about it. When they were done with that, they used the lazy susan portion of the racks to invent a new gladiator game, where you stand on the spinning wood and whack your opponent with a nerf-like sword. That ended when Krisha was hit in the face.
The insurance company for the guy who hit Rachael and I on Monday (See Monday the 13th) decided it was his fault (duh), and they are paying for my car repairs. We continue to secure our spot as "Favorite Customer For Life" at Eagle Collision. Good ol' Rob has done body work to vehicles we own no less than 14 times in the 7 years we've lived here. One year, he had one of our cars in for repair every month for 6 months straight....He LOVES us!! If only he had a "frequent accident club".... not that I want to collect points.
Shannon has been so blessed by all of your prayers, and we are so grateful to all of you who are praying for the specific things she needs. Please pray that Shannon will be able to get the rest she needs this weekend so she can have the endurance that is required for her therapies; that her body will be able to stabilize her blood pressure, that she will be able to gain the strength needed to sit for longer periods of time, that she will be happy and feel the love of her family, friends and Father in Heaven, and that her spinal cord will make the necessary connections to help her regain full use of her body. Thank you. Your support is seeing us through all of this.
Today's Meme:
This is a reality right now, isn't it? Who hasn't threatened to take away the wifi?? :D
And of course, the perfect Disney Quote for today:
"I mean it's crazy
What?
What?
We finish each other's
Sandwiches!
Sandwiches!
That's what I was gonna say!"
Hans & Anna- Disney's Frozen
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