On Sunday, three months to the day of Courtney's horrific accident, I drove down to my sister's house to visit. For the first time in more than three months, Courtney said "Hi" to me. Her greeting was music for the soul!
The night of the accident when Uncle Kevin called me, I didn't know if Courtney would be alive when I arrived at the hospital. Too often we hear and read of young people dying in car accidents. Recently, three young men died on Elmwood Avenue in Cranston, a mere 100 yards or so from my place of employment. (one of the survivors, a young lady, has been mentioned in the comments section of this blog by her teacher).
As I have tried to stress to Beth's kids a number of times - especially John who is driving now - many young people think that bad things happen to other people. Intellectually, they know its' possible they could get hurt and/or die but psychologically they think otherwise. It's part of being young. As adults, we know it's our job to remind "our" children that these things can, in fact, happen to them.
Recently, there have been numerous car break-ins in my neighborhood. I witnessed one from a few hundred yards away the other night but I couldn't catch up with the two thieves with my truck. After speaking to a young policeman from the site of the break-in he thanked me for calling. I responded by saying, no, "thank YOU". He's the one putting his life on the line everyday.
I had that same feeling after Courtney thanked me for visiting. Thank me?? NO! Thank you, Courtney. Thank you for being so brave in such a frightening situation. Thank you for being strong willed and determined in the face of your monumental struggle. Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for setting such an inspiring example for all of us who have been so deeply touched by your awesome spirit. Thank you for coming back to us.
It's my belief that we have all been given a gift of these past three months and there's more to come. In my eyes, the gift isn't limited to Courtney's recovery alone. The gift includes the remarkable human circle of support and love extended by so many people who never even knew Courtney before her accident and so many of our friends and extended family. Many of those stories have been recorded on this blog. Countless others have not. The fact is, we'll never know the full extent of love and prayers directed toward Courtney and her family (and my family). In a sense, the phenomenon is similar to the one depicted in the movie, Pay it Forward. (watch it if you haven't)
Finally, (I'm imagining a huge sigh of relief) though I'd like to keep writing into the summer in order to harass those Yankee fans, Craig and Ed, I'm going to bow out so the star of the show can keep us informed on how she's doing. On behalf of all my siblings who didn't write, thank you so much for loving and caring for Courtney, Katy, Claudia, Craig and Diane.
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5 comments:
Thank You UB, so touching & incredibly eloquent. :-)
Everyone needs a UB!
Hi Brian,
I'm sorry to know this will be your final posting. Your writings have brought many a chuckle when a chuckle was so desperately needed. Something I have thought about often over these past 3 months is how incredibly proud my mother's dear friends, Bill and Rita, would be of their 7 children. You came together and surrounded each other with such God given strength and love. I know they are beaming at the happy ending to this incredible journey. Take care, Debbie
Reading all this and crying "happy tears" (for a change)! How wonderful. We are all thrilled about your amazing recovery. And we will pray for that other patient you saw at Braintree. Brian, I am going to miss your posts. But, Courtney, I look forward to seeing your progress in your own posts. Hope to see you sometime this weekend.
:}
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