Hope for Christian

Hope by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.


It has taken me a week to post about this as I was waiting to see Christian's progress and also to give myself some time to process. The news about Christian weighed on me (and still does) heavier than I would have expected for someone I have never met. Christian, an 11 month old the same age as Jaxon from my August Online Mommy Group, nearly drowned a week ago and has been fighting hard in the hospital to get back to health. It was a tragic accident. Just looking at my super busy and tremendously curious baby, I can easily see any number of "accidents" happening in the blink of an eye. It is so sad that one actually had to happen to Christian. I have spent the last week checking in on Facebook and my mommy group several times a day to check for updates on his progress and to see how his mommy, Shauna, is doing. Recently she started a blog about Christian's journey to getting well and that has been such a nice resource to have for those wanting to know how both mommy and baby are doing. Like baby Maggie, who left us far to early, Christian reminds me how fragile life is and how amazing my little man is. What a blessing it is to have the chance to be a mother. To know that kind of love. Incidents like this make you slow down and evaluate all of the "things" that seemed to bother you. It is too bad we have such a hard time doing this daily without a significant reminder. I just think of Christian and I hold Jaxon a little tighter and longer, and feel a tremendous weight for Shauna who just wants to do the same to her son.

Shauna and Christian need all the positive vibes and support they can get coming their way. Check out Shauna's blog and pray/hope for Christian to go home with his family soon the happy and healthy little guy he was before. Hope is an amazing thing.

Hope is the thing with feathers...