1 Down, Many Years to Go

There all types of  commemorations.  There are birthdays and graduations;  holidays and  anniversaries.  There are congratulations and farewells.  Hallmark counts on us to have events worth remembering.   I'm not sure they make a card for a day like today.  Last year on August 2nd, our world stopped.  Ian leaped ahead of us on the journey we're on.  Yep, still have to find a euphemism.

It's strange.  After the weeks that have been so hard leading up to today,  it was strangely a relief.  It's here, so it can be over.  We don't have to face it again for a few hundred days.  I said it was strange.  Yesterday was the day anyway.  It all happened on a Monday, following the Sunday and the Saturday and the Friday--the Friday we took him to the hospital.  The events of those days are as etched in my mind as the date will be on his tombstone. 

Keith and I talked about how we were feeling today,  which we don't do terribly often, and we both felt the same way-- We are 1 year closer to seeing our son--our terrific, incredible, super son, which is a good thing.   We don't miss him any more today than we have any other day in the past 365.  In fact,  I almost think we'd be doing him an injustice if we marked this particular day as something special. 

He had a life of thousands of days--days where he did remarkable things and overcame obstacles that he was told were insurmountable.  Those are the days we should remember.  The day he got his first hit in little league was quite a day.  The other parents were concerned about the score and whether or not we'd win the game.  I just wanted Ian to have fun and not get hurt.  Then he hit the ball.  That was a day.  The day he was on the news was good too.  Having the news crew come to school to interview him and his friends and teacher made him pretty proud.   I liked the day he came home and told me he had  a girlfriend.  Getting A's on the report card was good too,  especially after going to those awful IEP meetings all those years.  I think he felt redeemed.  Too many good days to count.

I'm glad today is over.  I was surprised how many people remembered and reached out.  Maybe I'm we're not alone.