There were socks (zebra stripes, of course) because warm feet = warm hearts.
Reeses Cups ... everyone knows that chocolate and peanut butter cure everything.
Hershey's Kisses for a kiss a day!
An I-Pod loaded with music recommended by all my friends. Music HAS healing powers and it has always moved me in a way that is supernatural.
And then there was Gummy LifeSaver Candy! Who knew that God had performed yet another miracle and included them as part of a clear liquid diet.
There was also the promise ... Thanks Page ... there really are no words ...
To pray for Austin and Jordan - that they will know their mother is strong, a fighter, that every breath is for them.
To pray for The Mama - the pain of having to watch her daughter go through this, but the strength you show comes from deep inside both of you and began in her.
To pray for Jenny - being so far away is hard, but her presence is always near because they live in our hearts, we take them everywhere.
To pray for Dr Woltering and Dr Boudreaux - May Almighty God, the Great Physician hold their hand and guide their path.
To pray for the Nurses - That the one's assigned to my care strongly believe that the ordered dose of narcotics is just the starting point!
To pray for You - that you never feel alone, that you know we are in this fight with you. That when you can't hold on, that we are at the other end of the rope and the knot we have tied will never be broken. A promise made in friendship and in love.
I love all the little things you’re packing, but the BIG one at the end is best of all--the prayer. If you could somehow stuff all the thoughts and prayers that are with you for your surgery Wednesday into a suitcase, well, you'd have to travel via 18 wheeler!
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you, Julie. Secretly, and not so secretly, I always have been. When you taught me how to ride my bike. When you'd tell people how your finger got CHOPPED OFF and sewn back on. When you'd take off at a gallop on Brandy. When you'd run the pool table in the basement. When you tried out for cheerleader and taught me (your baby sister) the dance to Michael Jackson's Beat It. When you trusted me to drive your car (at 14) to Magee so you could, um, do something else with person to remain nameless, after a football game. When you'd roll outta bed at 7:40 and be ready to drive us to school at 7:45 every morning, looking way better than it took me ages to look. When you sized me for my first, uh, intimate apparel. When you heard me crying in my room and came in to comfort me. When you made me man up and tell on myself—incident involving two back-to-back hayrides. When you let me use your eye shadow and didn’t tell on me. When you drove us back and forth to the beach in that Jeep, walking (sometimes running) to the park lot away from whatever boys were following us. When you wrapped the crowd (and judges) around your finger and took the crown. When you were brave enough that time to curse in front of Mama. When you let me hike/hang with you and the “cool kids” in New Mexico. When I followed you down black diamonds … in shorts … and we sang together with our walkmans on the lifts. When you SING. IN. PUBLIC. and love it (how do you do it??).
Every time the going gets tough, you’re tougher. “I wouldn’t survive if …” isn’t in your vocabulary. It’s never been a matter of surviving for you. You know what you want, you have a vision of it, and you do what it takes to make it reality. You always have. You always will. And that’s another reason I’ll always be proud of you.
I love you, best big sister in the whole world.