Families.
I love them. I love mine and I love other people's.
That has been one of the highlight's of working at Craig (and the low points, but mostly the high points). It's truly heart-breaking and heart-warming to see the families at Craig. As you can imagine, if you end up at one of the top rehab hospitals in the country, something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
So even when your brain stops working and you become virtually a new person, with perhaps a completely different personality, families stand by each other, love each other, and advocate for their injured member. Even when they don't understand at all what's going on or why the doctors and therapists are doing what their doing. They are there and doing their best to love and support the person they used to love, and still love despite not really knowing them.
Or when your body stops working and all you've got left is your eyes and your face muscles and that beautiful mind stuck inside a body that for the time being seems useless. And yet your family still leaves their jobs to be at your side so they can move your sip and puff control to your mouth at the click of your tongue and to help you realize that you are more to them than you ever realized.
You being you is all they ever needed.
Isn't that both great and terrible?
Another part of families that I absolutely love is siblings. Especially the kind that love and respect each other. It's been so fun to see the siblings I know here in Colorado be together. It brings me joy in the very middle of my heart. When they help each other in their callings and save seats for each other and when they do their best to make their sibling look funny or smart or whatever it is their trying to be. Maybe because I've been family-less for the majority of the summer, I've been more sentimental about the great friendships I see in all the siblings I know. It's just so sweet and it makes me miss my own sweet siblings who are forever encouraging and confidence-building for me!
God created families for a reason. I'm so grateful that He also created a way for me to have mine forever!
A very thoughtful post. Dad says that becoming limited in some way makes you more thankful for what you have. Being family-less has made you as much.
ReplyDeleteBaa- adorable post. I have also developed a greater appreciation for siblings since Henry was born. I love it when Camilla gives him raspberries and races to his side the moment she hears him waking up. I love how intently Henry watches her as she plays around the room. I hope that they always love and appreciate each other this much. It makes me want to have a big family so they can have more friends, even if it means destroying my body in the process....
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