Ok, so my friend Shana is someone I've lost touch with a little bit in recent years, but she's back in the front of my thoughts now. Our husbands played softball together when they were just our boyfriends, and the girlfriends used to go sit on the bench and watch a little/talk a lot on Friday nights. We attended each other's weddings, and as our husbands faded from continuing to play, we weren't in touch as much. I've followed the birth and growing of her son Jack through forwarded pictures, and although we talk periodically about getting our kids together, we haven't.
Fast forward. I've gotten into Facebook this year, as have a LOT of my past and present friends my same age. I think of it as an extension of a collective mid-life crisis. :) Anyway, I found Shana on there, and in her comments noticed a status update about speech therapy. Because it is common for toddler boys, I didn't think twice about it. But a few weeks ago her status update astounded me, and I want to share her story with you. She posted that she was happy it had been a full year since her stroke. What the hell?! A lot of people write a lot of weird things on Facebook that do not mean what they seem, so I asked and she was serious. After reading her story, I was freaked out by the prospect of how horrible what she went through must have been, and a little bit concerned about how poorly I take care of my own health and what bad things I am not doing a good job of trying to prevent (Shana was always the picture of health!) I was also re-educated about stroke warning signs and urgency of fast treatment. But most importantly, I was deeply INSPIRED, by how this hardship affected her, how resilient she was/is, and how profoundly grateful and happy she is. If we all looked at our lives through the eyes of the "what ifs" I bet we would live a lot better and happier. She was thrilled to get to go to the mall in a wheelchair with her husband and son, and is happier in every way every day of her life since this happened to her. Shana, you rock, and to any who might be reading my blog, please read her story directly for yourself:
http://ihadawhat.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-had-what.html
No comments:
Post a Comment