30 Apr Courage

Our friend in Fredericton has been thinking about courage:

On this day when everything changed, I think often of my friend. But that’s nothing new – she’s been on my mind every day this past year.

For a year now, she has chosen to keep getting out of bed every morning, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to keep going—even when it seemed her world was crumbling.

One year ago, in the days before this day, my friend was living as we all do when nothing major has gone wrong, when we are simply caught up in life’s daily details. She had no sense everything was about to change.

Then it did.

On April 30, my friend’s husband was in a freak accident. He nearly died, but rescuers revived him and got him to intensive care, albeit in grave condition. There doctors determined he had a spinal fracture and would likely never recover the use of his arms or legs. Suddenly, everything came into sharp focus – the important and the meaningless, the value of good health, and its fragility.

My friend did not falter. She began looking for the training that would let her become her husband’s full-time caregiver. Most every day, she traveled an hour to the hospital, and then an hour home again, as she worked to be both wife and mother. She made sure her son had time with his father at the hospital. She answered his many questions about his dad, and continues to answer all he has asked in the days since. She saw only her beloved husband through the tubes and wires and medical equipment that surrounded him, and never stopped wanting to help him through, to bring him home. She pressed forward with intent.

Six weeks after the accident my friend’s husband died suddenly and unexpectedly from complications of his injuries. In the months since, she has taught all around her how to live despite her grief. She prepared a stirring eulogy to her husband, and delivered it to the hundreds who gathered for his funeral.

Together, she and her son have forged a path forward. She left a successful career and embarked on an entirely new occupation, becoming a student again and receiving training for the work that is her calling. She is an an unintentional educator on how to live life gratefully. She is the bravest person I know, and I send her much love on this day when everything changed, just one year ago.