Perspective

My clan has been suffering a run of bad luck lately. From injury to frustration, everyone in the family has been tested over the last few days. But my view on situation shifted dramatically today, as I gained a little perspective.

The challenges started not long after I spent a moment worrying about my daughters on their overnight camp out with the YMCA. I let myself wonder what I'd do if something happened to them. A couple hours later my cell phone rang and a camp councilor shared the news. 10 year old Haley survived all her hiking, swimming and camping adventures just fine. It was back at the Y where she tried to get down the stairs a bit too fast, jumped and landed on her ankle. This was exactly 18 hours before she was suppose to run in a state track meet.

Any parents who's gotten that call about their child's bad fall, injury, break, or cut knows you go through a range of emotions, a version of the 5 stages of grief. Acceptance didn't fully come until 3 days later when a radiologist took a second look at the x-rays and discovered what we were told was a bad sprain, was actually a broken ankle.

So, one bright orange cast and two little crutches later, Haley summer was dramatically changed.
As all this went down, as a rash of other annoyances hit us like tiny rocks flying at the windshield. My husband threw out his back. My son broke part of his braces and the fix at the orthodontist left him in pain and unable to eat. A new strange mole on my side prompted a concerned visit to the dermatologist. We were dropping like flies.

Record rain on a July Sunday washed out plans for skiing at the lake and the tournament game. When my son finally did play baseball, they lost in extra innings. Then someone broke into our car. I still don't know what exactly is missing.

So, yes, kinda a crappy week.

But then today I started a new project at work. I'm telling the stories of three 'Make-a-Wish' kids. These are children facing life threatening diseases, who get a wish granted, things like meeting celebrities or taking dream vacations. I did the interviews a couple of weeks ago and am just now listening to them and writing the stories.

Each of these families faced far more than broken ankles, sore mouths and lost games.

These children are looking at death in the face: a 4 year old fighting a rare brain cancer, a 19 year old with cystic fibrosis trying to live as normal a college life as possible, and a 9 year old with a rare genetic neurological disease that will likely take him in his teens.

All of the kids smiled and laughed with me as they shared their amazing 'wish' adventures. Each parent masked their heartbreaking pain for a few minutes to tell me their stories of trying to protect their child, trying to be strong, and how much a trip to Disneyland or New York made a difference. As I talked to each family I didn't let myself think about my own kids. But back at my desk, watching the video on my laptop, I was overwhelmed with the though of "why them?" And "Could it be us?"

No parent should have to fight for their child's life or face the real possibility that a disease might win. And yet these people also really seemed to experience real, deep, true joy. They are fighting off dying and living at the same time.

And so a lesson I've learned over and over, I learn again. I briefly felt sorry for myself, and then had it all put back into perspective.

As I write my make-a-wish stories, I hope I can share not so much that these families are special or brave, but that they are ordinary; that ordinary people can rise to extraordinary challenges; that when faced with the unthinkable, parents find a way; that a sick child can be a happy child; and that granting a wish and giving a family a week of joyful memories is priceless. I want people to put it in perspective like I did, and I hope I can help make more wishes come true.