Perspective

I think I've written something like this before, but it bears repeating.

One of the benefits of spending time at the children's hospital is the perspective it gives us about our lives. As big as the surgeries felt to us, they did not seem so big when we looked into the faces of other families at the hospital dealing with so much more.

Kimmie's surgeries were a rough time we had to get through, but once through, we were pretty sure it would be something that we could put behind us. Some of the families we met at the hospital were facing challenges that may never be resolved.

We were especially touched by the little boy in ICU in the bed next to Kimmie. He had just celebrated his 4th birthday, in ICU. He, and his parents, had been in the hospital, mostly in ICU, for 31 days. That's right, 31 days, an entire month. We didn't get the whole story, just bits and pieces. Evidentally he collapsed while running, was revived and brought to the hospital. I almost felt guilty when we were moved out of ICU after just 24 hours, knowing that Kimmie was quickly recovering and in a matter of days we would be home and life would return to our normal routine. Their lives will probably never return to what was normal before.

All we have to do is take our eyes off ourselves and look around, and we are reminded of how lucky and fortunate we are.

--Mom