Day 233 The Music of Recovery, The Sounds of Grace

Dear friends,

Sounds can be sweet.

Miss Rejoice is upstairs with Miss Lauren and Miss Becky, and they are doing what they love to do: SING! Hannah came down for snacks, muttering something about "double high C in her gut voice". (I may have that all wrong, but that's what it sounded like). To hear that child sing when I ponder what could have been, and when I think of those precious children at Sunnyview still struggling to speak after a brain injury, I am both grateful and sad. Sad for the parents whose uphill climb has been so much steeper than mine, grateful for the continuing recovery of my one and only daughter, a treasure so valuable it defies description. For all the tears I have shed, I have been spared many more. While Hannah keeps trekking her pilgrim road, I keep finding deeper levels of wonder, and I am truly humbled by the mercy of the Lover of our souls.

The other thing I'm hearing is Smitty chattering away with his momma on the telephone. Every night they speak, friends, every night since Stephen woke up, 8 days after the car crash. Of course in some of those earlier conversations, Hercules was a bit muddled. Like when he told me he was "going to come home tonite, but I couldn't reach you on the cell phone, and then it was really late...". I had to remind him that he had 2 broken legs so he wouldn't be going anywhere for awhile. It was actually very funny!

I can also hear the dishwasher swishing away. (It's an old dishwasher, and pretty noisy). It's music to my ears, though, because Stephen is back to his regular job of loading the thing. (He's happy too, and if you want to know why, ask him his opinion of my dishwasher stacking...) It wasn't so long ago he was in the wheelchair, with the fixator - I'm sorry, the BLASTED fixator. He even tried to do work in the kitchen with that thing on, God bless him.

Sounds. The cat purring on my chest while I write. The keys under my fingers, reminding me of the sweet communication I have had with all of you lo these many months. The crickets outside the window of my lovely Adirondack bedroom, a gift of love that reminds me daily of the outstanding folks who stood with us, indeed who continue to do so. (Fab Phyllis, the blinds are so perfect, and the curtains too! And brother Jim, we remember your long treks to Sunnyview. Thank you, thank you). The bathroom door closing, a wide door put in by Tom Terrific when Smitty was hopping about on that crazy walker. So many faces, so many names, so many blessings. The Great One sometimes brings us back to bring us forward. Wow. I will never forget the orchestra of love played out by countless instruments. The sound was like a heavenly choir. And the echo will be with me all my life.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann