Wednesday-2pm--Dagan turned 35 on Monday

Karma is always glad when I discover where she has hidden her treat tube.

So funny all the fun she has had with that bit of packaging--hehe! The tube was from a roll of thin metal sheeting for crafting. I am going to have to remember this before I throw out any further interesting shaped packaging, eh? hehe!

Well, I got an email from Leah and she wanted to switch crafts to tomorrow night. Dagan's half-brother, Bryan, wanted to come over for a late celebration of Dagan's birthday. Bryan's attending college here in town. He's fifteen years younger than Dagan. How did Bryan get old enough to be in college? How can Dagan be 35 years old? How time flies--and miracles prevail. :):)

You can go to the Soul Comfort's Stories link (upper left) and read Soft Breaths to see why I am so amazed that 35 years have passed. :) After having such a scare with this recent surgery (just crossed wires) that something bad had happened again...

...well, makes gratitude leap squarely into the foreground, that's for sure. Despite all the illnesses, surgeries, predictions of Dagan's early demise (the doctor's quit predicting how long he had to live after he turned twelve and survived a fontan procedure)--Dagan and I have always had the best time! There has always been laughter and silliness and delight--even while he was sick--hehe! Always enjoyed his company and was just plain glad he was still here. And he's still here this very day--much to Mom's delight--hurray!!

Dagan has been a blessing in my life since the day he was born. When death comes close enough to kiss your baby--your child--over and over again--there is an opportunity of choice. You can be overcome with the joy that he is still with you right this very minute--this day--or you can be overcome with fear about tomorrow. Living on an precipice like that puts life in perspective and makes priorities clear. You know what is really valuable and what is unnecessary fluff or mask or decoration. The very situation is a gift of choosing to live in the present moment. Of daily gratitude. Of small joys.

I was told Dagan wouldn't live long at all. I had always believed children were gifts and that, as parents, we are only guides or temporary custodians. My job was to help him be the best soul he could be for as long as he was here. How long he was here didn't matter one bit, right? I was more concerned with who he was while he was here. Had no control over the how long--so, therefore, I was even more concerned about his soul than his body. Didn't let him try to get away with things by using his weaknesses or to feel sorry for himself. But also--let him try whatever he thought he could do. You should have seen the look on some of the teacher's faces when I told them to let him do whatever he wanted in gym or recess because "the worst that can happen is he'll pass out". ROFL! He never did, tho. He had learned his limits pretty well by grade school.

Pre-school! Grade school! What milestones! I can't even put into words how proud I was when that skinny little blue-lipped boy went off on a bus to pre-school. I had been told so many times that would not happen. Told I wasn't being realistic or facing the facts. Well, you know doctors and their facts. When Dagan was diagnosed as a baby there was only one girl in France with Dagan's particular series of defects that was still alive past the age two. She was five. Most of the babies had died in the first few months of life. Doctors do like their facts.

Graduation from High school--college--tech school....love--marriage...when I really stop to think about Dagan's wonderful, miraculous life--it makes me well up with tears. More than anything else, I am sooooo proud of the man he has become. He has a good soul--old soul. I still enjoy his company. And we still laugh all the time. He is a blessed man with a wife he loves and who loves him (and I love her dearly, too).

But, to Mom--of course--he will always be my special boy. Deeply loved.

Happy, happy, happy birthday, Dagan. :):)