Those of you who have been following or reading my blogs for some time (thank you so so much) will know that October is significant in our household and a month we celebrate! For some reason, this year has felt different. It has felt so much more joyful. It has felt so much more exciting. It has felt new.
My annual cardiologist check up this year took me down memory lane in a different kind of way. Often when I head down to Entabeni hospital, the burden of what I endured weighs me down, and walking past the cardiac ICU corridor reminds me of our trauma. This year, I felt light and burden-free and redeemed. I had the most delightful consultation with my doctor and for the first time in 11 years gleaned more into his family life. Hearing my heart beating through the echo scan and seeing the effective functioning of my heart is always a relief, and one I welcomed again with gratitude.
A weekend away at our favourite spot with some of our best friends was food for the heart and soul. We walked, we swam, we ate, we celebrated, we chatted, we exlored, we sat by the fire, we enjoyed way too much ice cream and we laughed so much and so hard. It was a moment and memory I will treasure forever.
Two days later we celebrated the 11th birthday of our delightful miracle girl. What a day! This year the days have been the exact days they were 11 years ago which meant that the 19th October fell on a Tuesday-the same day of the week she was born. As I went to bed on the Monday evening of 18th October, I was reminded that 11 years ago I had no idea I would become a mom the next day, I was not expecting to meet my daughter and I definitely had no idea of what the week ahead would hold. I also went to bed SO excited that I have the privilege and joy of mothering our miracle and being wife to my wonderful husband. Her birthday was full of delight, full of laughter and full of love. She brings hope wherever she goes and she can look forward to the future with joy. {Proverbs 31:25}
Her first adventure as an 11 year old was to jump onto the school bus and head down the coast for a 2 night excursion with her class. My mother’s heart was so excited for her and a little nervous. She felt the same and created a new word – excitous – excited and nervous – all at the same time. I love her creative outlook on life and how she creates coping strategies when faced with a challenge. I now have a new word in my vocabulary and my hubby and I got to enjoy a date night together 🙂 She came home after her expedition, full of stories and memories and beautiful sun-kissed cheeks.
And so we get to this moment, as I sit on my couch with a bowl of ice-cream (yes it’s a favourite) and ponder the happenings of this week 11 years ago. My whole world and life changed on 24 October 2010. I was thinking earlier of the events of the 23 October 2010. It was the day I met my cardiologist for the first time as he brought his echo scan machine into my private room in the maternity ward. It was the day I swallowed tablets to dry up my milk to prepare me for heart surgery. It was the day I left my daughter in a maternity ward alone. It was the day my husband made decisions which effect my daily life today, and what profoundly wise decisions those were. It was the day my husband transferred me to the cardiac ICU at a hospital 20 kms away. It was the day the most important pre-op conversation was acknowledged by those beside my bed as I fell in and out of sleep under sedation. It was the day the future of my health was decided and prepared for. It was the day before.
Tonight as I write this, on ‘the day before’, I am overwhelmed by how light and enthusiastic and different I feel and how far I have come in the last 11 years, I am grateful for the life I have been gifted to enjoy over the past 11 years, I am delighted by the moments and memories I have been blessed with and I am eternally grateful to be here! To be alive! To be well!
So tomorrow we will continue to CELEBRATE the day which saved my life, which changed my life, which gave me hope of heart.
hope of heart 