Lesson #14

Your family is hurting as much or even more than you are!

A good friend made me aware of this early into my recovery. I worked hard to keep this at the forefront of my mind. My wife put on a strong face as she dealt with all of the possible outcomes of my accident; from death to never walking again. On top of that, she was having to carry a huge load...caring for an 18 month old, working 50 hours per week, staying with me each night and keeping a household running. She was and still is a trooper! Despite her "poker face", inside she was hurting in a big way. She almost lost me. She could have easily found me dead on the floor! I am sure that thought crossed her mind many times and the reality of it (after the shock wore off) had to be emotionally crushing.

I have said this 1000 times and will continue to say it....our family and our closest and dearest of friends stepped up and took care of Robbie, Collier and me. I will never forget all they have sacrificed to care for us. I will never forget what Robbie sacrificed for me! "...in sickness and in health..." Your wedding vows really do mean something!

The obvious lesson here is that despite what I am going through, I still must think of others and not spend all of my time thinking or focusing on ME!

Again, thank you to my wife who has given and continues to give all that she has to help me and the healing process. Thank you Collier for bringing me a book to sit in my lap and read. Thank you to my Mom and Granny for coming each month to help us take care of our house and Collier. Thank you to my Dad for all of his prayer and encouraging words. Thank you to my 2nd Mom (Robbie's Mom) for spending extra time in caring for Collier and for us and for spending nights with me at the hospital. Thank you to my 2nd Dad (Robbie's Dad) for building ramps, watching Collier and even spending the night with me in the hospital, changing light bulbs and all of the other little things you did. Thanks to my true friends who emailed, called, visited, cleaned up the mess I made in the dinning room, brought food and goodies, who watched me closely for depression and the list goes on and on..... Thanks to my Church staff who visited me in the hospital...especially Dave Hughey who came several times and spend hours with me just talking....those talks gave me peace and hope.

So many people praying and thinking of us.....God knows who you are!