Lucky Mama

I will never forget St. Patrick's Day 2010 as long as I live.  We prepared as best as we could for Joel's surgery.  We prayed for speedy recovery, we prayed for the doctors, we prayed for the 95% success rate to belong to us too.  The night before, I slept in Joel's fish bowl room with him...and as I held him nuzzled in my neck his heart stopped beating.  Bonnie rushed in, quickly swooped him into her arms, while she "woke" him back up....I didn't dare hold him again after that. If I had known I wouldn't be holding him for another three weeks, I would have picked him right back up.

During Joel's six hours in the OR, Adam and I went back to the Treehouse.  We went for walks, we laid in bed.  Showered.  Fiddled with my makeup, staring blankly into the mirror, wondering how I'd make myself look normal.  We attempted to put together a puzzle in the common area.  I remember the two of us....a thousand puzzle pieces scattered in front of our faces, and we just looked at the table, eyes glazed over.  How could we possibly manage to match puzzle pieces together?  It was hard enough to just BE.

Dr. Woods called us on my cell at every check point, giving us updates, and when he wasn't, I was checking my phone.  Looking.  Waiting.  And then we got the call.  He was finished; surgery went "like clockwork."  We prepared as best as we could to see our son like he was, and we had all faith that we would be back home in just a short week. 

We went out for dinner that night at the Engine House #9, not remembering that it would be St. Patrick's Day....at a pub.  We split a pint, and I had fish and chips, and we were surrounded by the celebrating public.  Green as far as our eyes could see.  Adam and I looked at each other, and smiled, knowing that we had more reason to celebrate than anyone in that whole restaurant.  And countless surgeries later, we still do. <3