Day 731 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends ("my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown…" Philippians 4:1)

Two years ago today, Grayson experienced cardiac arrest, was with little or no oxygen for nearly 12 minutes resulting in a severe anoxic brain injury.

These two years have been difficult to say the least. Our world was completely turned upside down and will never be the same again.

For Grayson, it means struggling to be understood for the remainder of his life, dependent on the love, patience and support of his family or caregivers. It means having long term memories of what his life was like before, friends, interests, and independence yet unable to remember how to tie his shoes, write his name, what he just ate or how old he is. It means the young man who was curious about everything, now is content to read the same magazine or comic book for hours. It means having to be stretched every day to relearn the basics of daily living.

It put an incredible stress on Lauren and Austin, who found the older brother they grew up with now taking the role of helpless sibling. Their relationship with him forever altered; having to find their way through unfamiliar dynamics both with their brother and their parents. I acknowledge how hard this has been on them just as they were starting to launch their own independent lives and regret the obvious stress Brant and I must spill onto them at times. Our hope is that they know how deeply we love each of them and appreciate their efforts to find new ways to love Grayson and be patient with us.

The personal stress comes in many forms, including financial concerns for Grayson's future, curtailing our volunteer work, with little privacy or free time away from home. Overnight I went from taking pride in being a reliable, dedicated employee to indulging my employer's grace in allowing me to work from home and at odd hours. We are reshaping dreams of what our life was to be like when our family grew up and are trying to salvage our goal of the travel we put off for 26 years.

This journey, however, is filled with many blessings and joys. Grayson is a loving individual who responds to encouragement and cheerleading. He is trusting and fills our days with giggling and laughter. Who could ask for more than that?

Our circumstances have allowed us to become aware of just how loving and supportive our family, friends, and church community are. We continue to experience their love in countless ways and we thank God for each of them.

Not insignificant is the fact that sharing all of this together has allowed Brant and me to grow even closer. As we look to celebrate our 28^th anniversary this weekend, I cannot imagine taking this journey with anyone else and I am thankful to have such a good partner.

Thank you all for taking this journey with us.

As our friend, Mike Sutherland posted to his Facebook page this week, "We have all been given so much in life. So in life how do we respond? Let our response be as extravagant as God's grace."

Regina