Day 156: Another Milestone

Today is Day 156 of Lauren and Cristi's unfortunate incarceration as we've taken to calling it. You may wonder why this particular day would be significant, other than the fact that it's an even (but not round) number. Today marks being in the hospital for one day longer than all of Lauren's previous 20 hospital stays combined. Yes, you read that right: Lauren accumulated 155 days in the hospital in just short of 3 years and 20 stays, and has now been in the hospital waiting on a heart transplant for 156 days -- a combined total of 311 days in 3 years and 5 months. Wow! Thinking about that makes me wonder how long?

On days like this, though, I'm reminded that our deployed troops spend at least 6 months away from their families -- some over a year. That kind of puts it in perspective. Having been deployed twice, though, I can tell you that, no matter how many people you're around, you miss your family. Certainly that's true for my family as every day begins to look like Groundhog Day.

As I feel myself slipping into sadness, though, I'm reminded of a literary classic called Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (that I'm reading with the kids for about the fourth time). In that book, Harry encounters dementors -- absolutely horrid creatures that quite literally drain the happiness out of people -- and Harry is afflicted worse than most it seems. Fortunately for Harry, it's possible for practiced wizards to conjure a patronus that fights them off via a complex spell that is sparked by focusing your mind on an extremely happy memory. Fortunately for me, too, I can fight those feelings of despair by focusing on all the good things God has blessed me with. You can see a partial list here. Add to that the successful cath earlier this week and the fact that I get to see Lauren and Cristi regularly (even if not as frequently as I'd like) and you really just can't ask for more under the circumstances. But instead of a complex spell that spawns some powerful vapor-like being, it's the Peace of God that passes all understanding, knowing that it will all be okay, because He promised it would.