Thursday, April 15, 2010

Life's Surprises


One bonus of having a school-aged child has been the unexpected boost to my social life. I never anticipated that when my daughter started school, my husband and I would be exposed all these parents - so many new and interesting future friends.

One family we’ve befriended has touched me deeply. Their smart and quirky son is in my daughter’s class. And their younger son is, quite simply, a miracle child.

Jonathan is this amazingly sunny kid. But Jonathan is also a really special kid. He was born with a roster of health issues. He spent the first nine months of his life in hospital. His parents traded nights sleeping at the hospital so that their newborn son would never be alone – all this while juggling the needs of a feisty toddler at home.

Over the past three years I’ve watched this family go through way more than their fair share of challenges. They were told that their son would never walk. (But he did.) Then they were told their son would never talk. (Their response? “We’re going to prove them wrong.” And they did.)

One time Jonathan’s mom was telling me about another little boy they knew from the hospital. This kid’s health issues were even more devastating that Jonathan’s. And do you know what Jonathan’s mom said to me? She said,

“I can’t believe we’re so lucky.”

Lucky? You could have knocked me over with a feather. That she perceived her family as lucky despite everything that they had been though just blew me away. Were I in the same situation, I feel certain that I would have just fallen apart.

This has been a big week for my friends. You see, Jonathan experienced so much trauma in his early months that he was never able to swallow on his own. He required a feeding tube for all his nutrition. He needed it to survive.

Well, yesterday, this kid who has been told “no” so many times had his feeding tube removed.

For the first time in his life, he’s truly on his own. This family IS lucky to have had the medical help to get Jonathan to this point. And Jonathan IS lucky that his loving parents have brought him to where he is today, standing on his own two feet.

And I’m lucky too. I’m lucky to have these amazing, new friends.

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