A Day of Celebration!

Five months ago today Dr. Garcia looked at Parker's MRI report, called John and told him to get Parker checked into Seton Hospital immediately. Parker had already spent two weeks at another hospital, then almost two weeks at home in unbearable agony.

On that day, when Dr. Garcia sent him to Seton, he told us to expect him to be there for at least three weeks, maybe as long as six weeks. Dr. Garcia is very optimistic. It was three and a half months before Parker went home.

But he lived! He beat the odds! And today he has just left to return to his job for the first time. It is definitely a day for celebration!

I, on the other hand, will be spending my day searching for a job when I return to Maryland in less than two weeks. I am sorry to say my boss could not hold my position for me any longer. It is a truly sad day for me, as I have worked for that company for the better part of the last 18 years, and it is a company I love and respect. But, he has a business to run, and I understand that. I am sure the decision was not an easy one for him to make.

Knowing that doesn't make me any less sad. Or scared. The only other time in my life when I didn't have a job was 18 years ago. It was scary then, but scarier now for some reason. Wish me luck!

The photo above was taken at Parker's birthday party when he was in the 4th grade. The photo I really wanted to post was taken when he was two years old, but I don't have it here in Austin. In it he is standing by the back door of the house where I grew up in Houston, holding up a brown paper lunch bag, a smile lighting his face and his curly hair flying all over creation. It was his first time to go to a half day "school" at the church. He couldn't wait to get there and see what the world had to offer outside. My mother had written on the bag something to the effect of "This belongs to a very special boy ~ please take good care of him today!"

Of course when Parker left today he didn't have a brown paper bag, his hair is short and not curly anymore, he's a bit taller and has a beard, and since he is returning to the job he held for a year and a half before he got sick, he pretty much knows what to expect. But believe me, the moment was no less magnificent than that day 23 years ago. What a blessing. He made it!