The Good, the Bad and . . .

"I'm letting go of the sad so I have room for the happy", I said to Katie when she asked why I was standing in the garage crying just a few minutes before we were to leave for the airport to pick up our friends on their way home from China with their new daughter.

Wyatt and I had gone out on an ice cream run in order to distract ourselves from the time and our severe case of "ants in your pants" that we had as the night drug on minute by minute.

Brett was waiting for us at the garage door when we pulled in the driveway. I thought he was really, really eager to get his hands on his peanut buster parfait.

That wasn't it, I only wish it were.

His mother had just had a heart attack, that's all we knew.

Off he went.

What else could he do?

What could anybody do?

The worst part is the not knowing. You may think you know what will happen the next minute, the next hour or maybe even the next day. WHAM! The unexpected happens. You did not plan for this. What now? Your body goes along like a robot while inside, your mind is reeling, swimming, grasping to make sense of it all. You get where you need to be, you begin to ask the doctors questions, you handle things, you make phone calls, you function. It's all you can do. And although it is enough, you feel helpless. It is all and it is nothing at the same time.

My parents, my parents who know the feeling all to well, came to help (I do not know what I would do without them). Together we drove the trip to the airport trying to keep our minds sharp, two cars driving down the freeway. The call came when we were about half-way there.

She would be alright. She was stable. She was going to have a stent put in the next day. Please tell Brandon and Linda that I am sorry I am not there. I am so sorry.

A big sigh was let.

Many "thank you's" were given, silently.

Onward.

At the very same baggage claim turnstile, at the bottom of the very same escalator, on the same day of the month as a year and a half ago, we met our friends again. Home from their trip, now a family of five!


Greetings were given without trepidation (although I'll bet there was a little fear there, she is just better at controlling her emotions as she is older than her sister was) and the beginnings of bonds were cemented in time.

By the time all was said and done, a fiesty, curious, intelligent and sweet personality was being shown, just a little, with dimples deeper than the Grand Canyon!

Welcome home Ellie! You beautiful, strong, smart and silly girl!

January 25, 2006

July 25, 2007

Ellie is adjusting beautifully to her new home. My mother in-law is home and recovering from her heart attack and just yesterday, when Katie was asked why her eye was all red, she replied, "It was sad. It had to make room for the happy."

The end. For now.