04.24.10
One Moment Is All It Takes….
I recently headed south on vacation to visit the BFF Florida and get some much needed relaxation time. There’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning, pouring that enticing first cup of coffee and watching an amazing sunrise over the water with one of your best friends. It is one of the few moments of peace I get in this crazy life. These moments I wouldn’t exchange for anything. While in the Sunshine State, the BFF Florida made arrangements for me to workout with her at the Gym/Wellness Center she has joined since her recent neck surgery last year(because she knows asking me not to workout for 4 days would be equal to asking a 2yr old to sit still for 5 hours—beyond unlikely).
As we exited the facility one day, we saw a cab parked near the front entry. She stopped for a slight moment and turned to me to say “He’s here”. The “he” she was referring to was Jeffrey(this is not really his name for the family’s sake his name has been changed). Jeffrey is 3…soon to be 4. He is a remarkable young man who’s life was changed forever in one tragic moment. One day, Jeffrey was a vibrant, active little boy. The next he clinging to the end of his life. Because, in one instance, Jeffrey was outside playing and the next he was laying motionless at the bottom of the family pool.
And though he survived, Jeffrey, according to his doctors has permanent, irreversible brain damage. He is unable to walk, eat or do any regular activity on his own. He has a round the clock nurse that brings him to physical therapy multiple times a week to try and teach Jeffrey’s body to move freely again. For this charming young boy was robbed of any semblance of a normal life in an instant. Yet despite the specialists recommendations, the family fights to bring back any part of the little boy they cherish. And on a good day they will get a smile or acknowledgement that he knows them. But though those days are very few and far between. Yet they never give up the fight. They have resolved that someday, they will get their son back.
So I’d like to commend Jeffrey’s family for their strength and determination. For reminding us that it doesn’t matter what job you have, how much money you make or how many tangible things you acquire. Yet it is how much faith you have in the darkest hour that illustrates who you truly are. For one moment is all it takes to change everything in life as you know it.
I couldn’t help but think of what my Gram always told me when hearing of Jeffrey’s story…
There are no hopeless situations, only people who have grown hopeless about them
May we all never lose Hope…
